For the question to be settled by the jury is not whether the accused person knew the particular penalty attached to his act, (for at common law no one knew what penalty a jury would attach to an offence,) but whether he knew that his act was intrinsically criminal.
Spooner argues that the jury's role is to determine the intrinsic criminality of an act rather than the specific penalties associated with it.
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Any restriction upon the exercise of this right is a restriction upon his rightful power of providing for, and accomplishing, his own well-being.
Juries would refuse to enforce a tax against a man who had never agreed to pay it.
A man has a natural right to enforce his own rights and redress his own wrongs.
Proud from victory, and with their swords in their hands, would they surrender their liberties to a private man?