Comment Re:Jury Rights (Score 1) 342
But does the jury's power to veto bad laws exist under
our Constitution?
It certainly does! At the time the Constitution was
written, the definition of the term "jury" referred to a
group of citizens empowered to judge both the law and
the evidence in the case before it. Then, in the Februar
term of 1794, the Supreme Court conducted a jury trial
in the case of the State of Georgia vs. Brailsford1. The
instructions to the jury in the first jury trial before the
Supreme Court of the United States illustrate the true
power of the jury. Chief Justice John Jay said: "It is
presumed, that juries are the best judges of facts; it is,
on the other hand, presumed that courts are the best
judges of law. But still both objects are within your
power of decision." (emphasis added) "...you have a
right to take it upon yourselves to judge of both,
and to determine the law as well as the fact in
controversy".
http://www.fija.org/docs/JG_Jurors_Handbook.pdf
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Our third president, Thomas Jefferson, put it like this: "I consider trial by jury as the only anchor yet imagined by man by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution."
John Adams, our second president, had this to say about the juror: "It is not only his right, but his duty...to find the verdict according to his own best understanding, judgement, and conscience, though in direct opposition to the direction of the court."
http://www.ibiblio.org/fija/fijaintr.htm
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