ich condemns to transportation for a long term of
years.

In such cases what is the jury to do? In England they might safely give
a verdict of guilty, and leave the judge to take into consideration all
the extenuating circumstances; but in Russia they cannot act in this
way, for they know that the judge must condemn the prisoner according
to the Criminal Code. There remains, therefore, but one issue out of the
difficulty--a verdict of acquittal; and Russian juries--to their honour
be it said--generally adopt this alternative. Thus the jury, in those
cases in which it is most severely condemned, provides a corrective for
the injustice of the criminal legislation. Occasionally, it is true,
they go a little too far in this direction and arrogate to themselves
a right of pardon, but cases of that kind are, I believe, very rare.
I know of only one well-authenticated instance. The prisoner had been
proved guilty of a serious crime, but it happened to be the eve of a
great religious festival, and the jury thought that in pardoning the
prisoner and giving a verdict of acquittal they would be acting as good
Christians!

The legislation regards, of course, this practice as an abuse, and has
tried to prevent it by concealing as far as possible from the jury the
punishment that awaits the accused if he be condemned. For this
purpose it forbids the counsel for the prisoner to inform the jury what
punishment is prescribed by the Code for the crime in question. This
ingenious device not only fails in its object, but has sometimes a
directly opposite effect. Not knowing what the punishment will be, and
fearing that it may be out of all proportion to the crime, the jury
sometimes acquit a criminal whom they would condemn if they knew
what punishment would be inflicted. And when a jury is, as it were,
entrapped, and finds that the punishment is more severe than it
supposed, it can take its revenge in the succeeding cases. I know at
least of one instance of this kind. A jury convicted a prisoner of
an offence which it regarded as very trivial, but which in reality
entailed, according to the Code, seven years of penal servitude! So
surprised and frightened were the jurymen by this unexpected consequence
of their verdict, that they obstinately acquitted, in the face of the
most convincing evidence, all the other prisoners brought before them.

The most famous case of acquital when there was no conceivable doubt as
to the guilt of the acc