If the laws of the king were imperative upon a jury in civil suits, the king might enact laws giving one man's property to another, or confiscating it to the king himself, and authorizing civil suits to obtain possession of it.
Spooner illustrates the potential dangers of juries being bound by unjust laws, which could lead to property theft.
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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?
They are every day committing errors, which would be crimes, but for their ignorance of the law.
The will, or the pretended will, of the majority, is the last lurking place of tyranny at the present day.
But there is no reason why a judge should have the power of punishing, for contempt, any more than for any other offence.