The only difference between the two is, that the peers of the realm have had influence enough to preserve their constitutional rights; while the constitutional rights of the people have been trampled upon and rendered obsolete by the usurpation and corruption of the government and the courts.
Spooner critiques the disparity in the preservation of constitutional rights between the nobility and the common people.
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They were even allowed to grant pardon to criminals, and to correct by their clemency the rigors of justice.
Why should they not have such an administration of justice as they desire, and can understand?
One answer is, that this power, which juries have of judging of the law, is not a power of absolute decision in all cases.
The people are no more arrayed against themselves, when a jury puts its veto upon a statute, which the other tribunals have sanctioned, than they are when the same veto is exercised by the representatives, the senate, the executive, or the…