It was, therefore, in effect, the assertion of a right, on the part of the government itself, to determine its own powers, and the authority of its own legislation, over the people; and a denial of all right, on the part of the people, to judge of or determine their own liberties against the government.
Spooner warns that allowing the government to define its own powers denies the people's right to judge their liberties.
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It is also sheer impudence, on their part, to assume that their commands are at all necessary to teach other men what is, and what is not, justice.
One answer is, that this power, which juries have of judging of the law, is not a power of absolute decision in all cases.
It was simply, that they would neither convict the innocent, nor acquit the guilty.
If the authority be vested in the government, the governmnt is absolute, and the people have no liberties except such as the government sees fit to indulge them with.