On the record
So that the government must keep its laws clearly within the limits of justice, if it would ask a jury to enforce them.
Said by
Lysander Spooner
Source
gutenberg.orgSo that the government must keep its laws clearly within the limits of justice, if it would ask a jury to enforce them.
Spooner argues that for a jury to enforce laws, those laws must align with principles of justice.
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It was simply, that they would neither convict the innocent, nor acquit the guilty.
Therefore all their laws, as they call them,--that is, all the laws of their own making,--have no color of authority or obligation.
One answer is, that this power, which juries have of judging of the law, is not a power of absolute decision in all cases.
Practically speaking, no government knows any limits to its power, except the endurance of the people.