In other words, in the criminal suit, the jury would be obliged to justify the defendant in resisting a law, which, in the civil suit, they had said he was bound to submit to.
Lysander Spooner: “In other words, in the criminal suit, the jury would be obliged to justify the defendant in resisting a law, which, in…”
Editor's note · Context
Spooner discusses the conflicting obligations juries face in civil versus criminal cases regarding unjust laws.
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When they have once taken our money, they have the decency to get out of our sight as soon as possible; they do not persist in following us, and robbing us, again and again, so long as we produce anything that they can take from us.
They do not tell us that we are the freest and happiest people on earth, inasmuch as each of our male adults is allowed one voice in ten millions in the choice of the men, who are to rob, enslave, and murder us.
In short, they acknowledge themselves hostes humani generis: enemies of the human race.
For all these reasons, they are not only modest and sensible, but really frank, honest, and honorable villains, contrasted with these courts of injustice, and the lawmakers by whom these courts are established.