Source:Orange County Registermetro,page 6
Contact:(letters@link.freedom.com)

Some jury activist organizations have declared September 8 as Jury
Rights Day,in commemoration of the day in 1670 w This stubborn
exercise of all the rights of a jury exercised despite the fact
that four jurors spent nine weeks in prison for refusing to heed the
instructions of the court was instrumental in establishing not only
the rights ofjuries, but freedom of religion, the right to peaceful
assembly, freedom of religion, the right to peaceful assembly,
freedom of speech and habeas corpus. All because a jury exercised its
right to judge not only the facts in a case, but also whether the law
was just and applicable.

It was a jury exercising what is sometimes called "nullification" that led
to the establishment of freedom of the press in the United States. John
Peter Zenger in 1736 was indubitably guilty of printing in his newspaper
what was defined under law as seditious libel. But a jury refused to
convict him, setting a precedent that led to increased discussion of the
importance of press freedom and, eventually, the First Amendment.

Juries are commonly told these days that their job is to judge the facts in
a case and to adhere strictly to the judge's instructions when it comes to
the law and its interpretation. This is different from an older, sturdier
American tradition.

The Supreme Court in 1794 was quite clear: "It is presumed that the 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
[the jury's] power of decision."

As recently as 1972, in U.S. v. Dougherty, the Supreme Court affirmed this
view: "The jury has an unreviewable and unreaversible power ... to acquit
in disregard of the instructions on the law given by the trial judge." The
opinion continued that "jury lawlessness is the greatest corrective of law
in its actual administration. The will of the state at large imposed on a
reluctant community, the will of a majority imposed on a vigorous and
determined minority, find the same obstacle in the local jury that formerly
kings and ministers faced."

Intelligent, informed juries can be an important safeguard of liberty and
individual rights. It is appropriate to understand, celebrate and preserve
those rights.