r the punishment of wrong deeds done against the law, done by the
unorganized selfishness of thieves, housebreakers, murderers, and
other workers of unrighteousness;

2. And also for the prevention of wrong deeds attempted in the name of
law, by the organized selfishness of the makers and officers thereof.

For in each special case brought to trial, the jury are judges of the
Law and of its Application. They cannot make a law--statute or
custom--nor repeal one; but in each particular case they must demand
or forbid its execution. These Tribunes of the Saxon People have no
general veto on law-making, and can efface no letter from the
statute-book, but have a special and imperative veto on each case for
the Application of the law.

Justice, the point common to the interests of all men, yes, the point
common to God and our Conscience, is the Aim and Purpose of Law in
general; if it be not that the law is so far unnatural, immoral, and
of no obligation on the conscience of any man. The special Statute,
Custom, or Decision, is a provisional Means to that end; if just, a
moral means and adequate in kind; if unjust, an immoral means,
inadequate in kind, and fit only to defeat the attainment of that
Justice which is the Purpose of all Law. Accordingly, if by an
accident, a special statute is so made that its application in a
particular case would do injustice and so defeat the Design and
Purpose of Law itself, then the function of the jury under their oath
requires them to preserve the End of law by refusing to apply the
provisional statute to an unjust use. And if by design a statute is
made in order to do injustice to any man--as it has very often
happened in England as well as America,--then the jury will accomplish
their function by refusing to apply that statute to any particular
case. So will they fulfil their official oath, and conserve the great
ultimate Purpose of Law itself.

Gentlemen, you will ask me where shall the jury find the Rule of
Right, and how know what is just, what not? In your own Conscience,
Gentlemen; not in the conscience of the Attorney for the
Plaintiff-Government, or the accused Defendant; not in the conscience
of the community; still less in the technical "opinion" of the
lawyers, or the ambition, the venality, the personal or purchased rage
of the court. Of course you will get such help as you can find from
judges, attorneys, and the public itself, but then decide as you must
decide--each ma