Synopsis
A POSTSCRIPT TO THE LETTER, LIBELS, WARRANTS, &C. is a 1765 political-legal pamphlet by an Unknown author, issued as a response to a postscript in the Defence Of The Majority and to another pamphlet titled Considerations On The Legality Of General Warrants. The work, printed in London for J. Atmon in Piccadilly, argues that general warrants are illegal and seeks to rebuke defenders of their use. It presents a sustained legal and historical critique of warrant practice, insisting that both the offense and the offender must be specified in warrants and that magistrates, not officers, exercise judicial power. The author engages with constitutional principles, the rights of juries, and the limits of parliamentary privilege, drawing on authorities such as Hale, Hawkins, and Coke, and invoking moments from English legal history (e.g., the Star-Chamber, Lilburne, and pre-Revolution notions of liberty). The text also discusses statutory instruments, the role of information from the Crown, the necessity of oaths, and the dangers to civil liberty posed by unchecked executive action. It surveys the development of s hrouds and recognizances and argues for strict adherence to established legal processes. The pamphlet contributes to a long-running debate on the balance between security, order, and individual rights in the English constitution.
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