If a jury consent, at the dictation of the court, as to either law or evidence, to render a verdict, on the strength of which they have reason to believe that a man's property will be taken from him and given to another, against their own notions of justice, they make themselves morally responsible for the wrong.
Spooner contends that jurors who yield to court pressure and render unjust verdicts are morally culpable for the resulting wrongs.
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And nobody is bound to take the least notice of them, unless it be to trample them under foot, as usurpations.
Any restriction upon the exercise of this right is a restriction upon his rightful power of providing for, and accomplishing, his own well-being.
In that case the trial is really a trial by the government, and not by the jury.
When two men meet one upon the highway, or in the wilderness, have they a right to dispose of his life, liberty, or property at their pleasure, simply because they are the more numerous party?