A JURYS RIGHTS, ROWERS AND DUTIES: The charge to the JURY in the First JURY Trial before the supreme Court of the U.S. Illustrates the TRUE POWER OF THE JURY. In the February term of 1794, the supreme Court conducted a JURY trial and said ...it is presumed, that juries are the best judges of facts; it is, on the other hand, presumed that the courts are the best judges of law. But still both objects are within your power of decision. You have a right to take upon yourselves to judge of both, and to determine the law as well as the fact in controversy. (state of Georgia vs. Brailsford,et al, 3 Dall.1 The JURY has an unreviewable and unreversible power ... to acquit in disregard of the instructions on the law given by trial judge. (U.S. vs. Dougherty, 1972 ) Hence, JURY disregard of the limited and generally conviction-oriented evidence presented for its consideration, and JURY disregard for what the trial judge wants them to believe is the controlling law in any particular case ( sometimes referred to as JURY lawlessness) is not something to be scrupulously avoided, but rather encouraged. ( Jury lawlessness means willingness to nullify bad law). Witness the following quotation from the eminent legal authority above-mentioned: Jury lawlessness is the greatest corrective of law in its actual administration. The will of the state of large imposed on a reluctant community, the will of a majority, find the same obstacle in the local JURY that formerly confronted kings and ministers. Dougherty, cited above, note 32,at 1130.) THE RIGHT OF THE JURY TO BE TOLD OF ITS POWER!!! Almost every JURY in the land is falsely instructed by the judge when it is told it must accept as the law that which is given to them by the court, and that the JURY can decide only the facts of the case. This is to destroy the purpose of a Common Law JURY, and to permit the imposition of tyranny upon a people. There is nothing more terrifying than ignorance in action Goethe--engraved on a plague at the Naval War College To embarrass justice by a multiplicity of laws, or to hazard it by confidence in judges, are the opposite rocks on which all civil institutions have been wrecked. (Minnesota State Capitol ) It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. ( Thomas Jefferson ) The JURYS options are by no means limited to the choices presented to it in the courtroom. The jury gets its understanding as to the arrangements in the legal system from more than one voice. There is the formal communication from the judge. There is the informal communication from the total culture --literature; current comment, conversation; and, of course history and tradition. ( Dougherty, cited above, at 1135.)
Posted on: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 05:09:19 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015