The fact that the jury were to fix the sentence, implies that they were to try the accused; otherwise they could not know what sentence, or whether any sentence, ought to be inflicted upon him.
Spooner highlights the essential role of juries in determining both guilt and the appropriate punishment in trials.
Share
More from Lysander Spooner
The people considered their jurisprudence as a part of their inheritance.
In that case the trial is really a trial by the government, and not by the jury.
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…
The presumption clearly is that all were eligible.