The right of juries to judge the justice of the law For more than six hundred years, that is to say since the Magna Carta, in 1215, it there has been no clearer principle of English or American constitutional law, that, in criminal cases, it is not only the right and duty of juries to judge what are the facts, what is the law, and what was the moral intention of the accused; but that it is also their light, and their first and foremost duty, to judge of the justice of the law, and to declare invalid all laws which are, in their opinion, unjust or oppressive, and that all persons are innocent of violation of, or resistance to the execution of, any such law. Unless these are the rights and duties of jurors, it is clear that, instead of being a "palladium of liberty" - a barrier against government tyranny and oppression - they are in reality mere tools in his hands, to carry out any injustice and oppression that he may wish to have carried out. Without their right to judge the law and the justice of the law, juries would not protect an accused, even as to questions of fact; for if the government can dictate to the jury any law, in a criminal case it can certainly dictate to it the laws of evidence. That is, it can dictate which evidence is admissible and which is not, as well as the force or weight to be given to the admitted evidence. And if the government can thus dictate to the jury the laws of evidence, it can not only compel it to convict on the basis of a partial exposition of the evidence legitimately connected with the case, but it can even require it to convict on the basis of any evidence whatsoever. he likes to offer them. That the rights and duties of jurors must be necessary...... middle of paper ......mple of all our American governments, in which the constitutions have all become obsolete, at the time of their adoption, for almost or almost all purposes except the appointment of officers, which immediately become practically absolute, except in so far as they are held back by fear of popular resistance. The limits set on the power of government, by trial by jury, as it will hereinafter be shown, that government shall never touch the property, person, or natural or civil rights of any individual, against his consent (except for the purpose of bringing them before a jury for trial), except in application and execution of a judgment or decree rendered by a jury in each individual case, upon such evidence and such laws, as are satisfactory to them own understanding and awareness, regardless of any government legislation.