To make such Protection practicable, Magistracy was formed,* with Power to defend the Innocent from Violence, and to punish those that offered it; nor can there be any other Pretence for Magistracy in the World. In order to this good End, the Magistrate is intrusted with conducting and applying the united Force of the Community; and with exacting such a Share of every Man’s Property, as is necessary to preserve the Whole, and to defend every Man and his Property from foreign and domestick Injuries.
These are Boundaries of the Power of the Magistrate, who deserts his Function whenever he breaks them. By the Laws of Society, he is more limited and restrained than any Man amongst them; since, while they are absolutely free in all their Actions, which purely concern themselves; all his Actions, as a publick Person, being for the Sake of the Society, must refer to it, and answer the Ends of it.
original spelling
* ‘Magistrate’ was a term in Roman law for anyone with judicial or governmental functions, from minor judges to the highest lawmakers. In this passage, Trenchard uses the word in this broad sense. The word has since come to be restricted to minor judicial officers, for example by the Metropolitan Police Courts Act 1839.