Lysander Spooner: “What is such a jury good for, as a protection against the tyranny of the government?”

Practically speaking, no government knows any limits to its power, except the endurance of the people.

When two men meet one upon the highway, or in the wilderness, have they a right to dispose of his life, liberty, or property at their pleasure, simply because they are the more numerous party?

Yet the codes of the most celebrated kings are very small, and were little more than compilations of immemorial customs.

They were even allowed to grant pardon to criminals, and to correct by their clemency the rigors of justice.