Essay on the Trial by Jury

Author(s)

• Lysander Spooner

FOR more than six hundred years that is, since Magna Carta, in 1215 there has been no clearer principle of English or American constitutional law, than 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 intent of the accused; but that it is also their right, and their primary and paramount duty, to judge of the justice of the law, and to hold all laws invalid, that are, in their opinion, unjust or oppressive, and all persons guiltless in violating, or resisting the execution of, such laws.

So begins Spooner's epic on the jury, its origins and history. Spooner examines the history and powers of a jury, from the magna carta in King John's time, to the practices in the 18th century. A classic work on law, Spooner argues that the decision of the jury is sovereign over the king's law. (Summary by Bethanne)

1. Notes
2. Ch 1 – The Right of Juries to Judge the Justice of Laws
3. Ch 2 – Part 1 – Trial by Jury Defined by Magna Carta
4. Ch 2 – Part 2 – Language of Magna Carta
5. Ch 3 – Part 1 – Additionnal Proofs of the Rights and Duties of Jurors
6. Ch 3 – Part 2 – Ancient Common Law Juries were Mere Courts of Conscience
7. Ch 3 – Part 3 – Ancient Common Law Juries were Mere Courts of Conscience
8. Ch 3 – Part 4 – Oaths of Jurors
9. Ch 3 – Part 5 – Right of Jurors to fix the Sentence
10. Ch 3 – Part 6 – The Coronation Oath
11. Ch 4 – The Rights and Duties of Juries in Civil Suits
12. Ch 5 – Part 1 – Objections Answered
13. Ch 5 – Part 2 – Objections Answered
14. Ch 6 – Juries of the Present Day Illegal
15. Ch 7 – Part 1 – Illegal Judges
16. Ch 7 – Part 2 – Illegal Judges
17. Ch 8 – Free Administration of Justice
18. Ch 9 – The Criminal Intent
19. Ch 10 – Moral Considerations for Jurors
20. Ch 11 – Authority of Magna Carta
21. Ch 12 – Limitations Imposed Upon the Majority by the Trial by Jury
22. Appendix