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
Practically speaking, no government knows any limits to its power, except the endurance of the people.
The people considered their jurisprudence as a part of their inheritance.
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…
One answer is, that this power, which juries have of judging of the law, is not a power of absolute decision in all cases.