Otis appeared before the Superior Court of Massachusetts to argue against the British use of writs of assistance, calling them the “worst instrument of arbitrary power, the most destructive of English liberty and the fundamental principles of law, that ever was found in an English law-book,” and “a power that places the liberty of every man in the hands of every petty officer.” His argument would stretch to five hours. John Adams, who was among those who’d packed into the courthouse to hear Otis, would later say: Every man of an immense crowded audience appeared to go away as I did, ready to
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