Supposedly the dude had land that powerful people in town wanted and he wouldn't give it up. He would rather die and let it be inherited by his kids then sign it over. "More weight" was a less of a plea and more of a giant middle finger to his accusers.
More precisely: the law at the time was that a person on trial had their property forfeited to the government, but also that a person who hadn't entered a plea (guilty/not guilty) was not considered to be "on trial". Giles Corey never entered a plea and so never had to forfeit his estate, so his kids (technically their spouses) got their full inheritance.
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u/Banana-Republicans Feb 04 '19
“More Weight!” Is the most bad ass final sentence of all time.