The evidence is therefore conclusive that the phrase per judicium parian suorum means according to the sentence of his peers; thus implying hat the jury, and not the government, are to fix the sentence.
Spooner concludes that the phrase 'per judicium parium suorum' means that the jury, not the government, determines the sentence.
Share
More from Lysander Spooner
Practically speaking, no government knows any limits to its power, except the endurance of the people.
They cannot claim or expect that the whole people shall practise the folly of taking on trust their pretended superior knowledge, and of committing blindly into their hands all their own interests, liberties, and rights, to be disposed of…
They were even allowed to grant pardon to criminals, and to correct by their clemency the rigors of justice.
Juries would refuse to enforce a tax against a man who had never agreed to pay it.