"The Fifth Amendment packs a lot of rights into one paragraph; Grand Juries, double jeopardy, self-incrimination, right to due process and forfeiture of private property are all covered. We, as the public, are probably most aware of "Taking the Fifth" beloved of politicians and arch criminals alike. The idea of a person having the right not to be a witness against themselves has a very long history starting with Judaic law. That history is traced here traversing the middle ages and oath taking, the Inquisition, church courts and double jeopardy, the contest between common law and ecclesiastical courts, its use and abuse in Tudor and Jacobean England and, finally, its interpretation in colonial America."--Page [4] of cover.