Essay on the Trial by Jury

By Spooner, Lysander

Book Id: WPLBN0002950902
Format Type:
File Size: 330.66 MB
Reproduction Date: 2008

Title:	Essay on the Trial by Jury
Author:	Spooner, Lysander
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	History, Philosophy
Collections:	Audio Books Collection, Essay on the Trial by Jury
Historic Publication Date:	1852
Publisher:	LibriVox Audio Books


Citation APA MLA Chicago Spooner, B. L. (1852). Essay on the Trial by Jury. Retrieved from http://gutenberg.us/

Description
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)

Summary
Electronic recorded live performance of a reading

Excerpt
History, Philosophy