On the record
It is probable that an oath was never administered to a jury in England, either in a civil or criminal case, to try it according to law.
Said by
Lysander Spooner
Source
gutenberg.orgLysander Spooner: “It is probable that an oath was never administered to a jury in England, either in a civil or criminal case, to try it…”
Editor's note · Context
Spooner suggests that juries in England were never bound to judge cases strictly according to the law.
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More from Lysander Spooner
They do not tell us that we are the freest and happiest people on earth, inasmuch as each of our male adults is allowed one voice in ten millions in the choice of the men, who are to rob, enslave, and murder us.
They acknowledge it to be our unquestioned right and duty to kill them, if we can; that they expect nothing else, than that we will kill them, if we can; and that we are only fools and cowards, if we do not kill them, by any and every…
For all these reasons, they are not only modest and sensible, but really frank, honest, and honorable villains, contrasted with these courts of injustice, and the lawmakers by whom these courts are established.
They do not attempt to deceive us, or mislead us, or reconcile us to their doings, by any such pretences, impostures, or insults as these.