On the record
In nearly or quite all the States of the United States the juries are illegal, for one or the other of the same reasons that make the juries in England illegal.
Said by
Lysander Spooner
Source
gutenberg.orgLysander Spooner: “In nearly or quite all the States of the United States the juries are illegal, for one or the other of the same reasons…”
Editor's note · Context
Spooner argues that juries in the U.S. are largely illegal, paralleling issues in England.
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More from Lysander Spooner
If the authority be vested in the government, the governmnt is absolute, and the people have no liberties except such as the government sees fit to indulge them with.
One answer is, that this power, which juries have of judging of the law, is not a power of absolute decision in all cases.
And yet these reasons, which are really no reasons at all, are the only ones, so far as I know, that have ever been offered for this absurd and brutal doctrine.
All those who are not forbidden by law may be judges (jurors).