The Law

Jury Nullification rests upon an old Common Law principle - viz that the only way to prevent the government from imposing unjust or nefarious laws is to grant juries the right to negate such laws.

This right explains the tradition that a jury should consist of twelve citizens selected at random and thereby representing (as far as is scientifically possible) the full range of common sense and common morality of the the population in general (including the recalcitrants and cranks among us, upon whom liberty has always depended in bad times).

As Lord Denman wrote: "Every jury in the land is tampered with and falsely instructed by the judge when it is told that it must accept as the law that which has been given to them or that they must bring in a certain verdict or that they can decide only on the facts of the case"

Similarly, the present idiotic "war" on drugs will continue indefinitely, at a cost of billions, with further erosion of the Constitution and with no tangible good results credible to anyone with more than a half inch of forehead. But an informed jury can refuse to enforce the laws in this case and even one informed juror can again cause a mistrial. Certainly, the anti-pot law, the silliest of all our drug laws, could not survive in a nation with at least 70 million pot-heads, if juries knew they had the right of nullification.'
Chaos & Beyond - Robert Anton Wilson

'If a juror accepts as the law that which the judge states then that juror has accepted the exercise of absolute authority of a government employee and has surrendered a power and a right that once was the citizen's safeguard of liberty.'
Bancroft

'If the jury feels the law is unjust, we recognize the undisputed power of the jury to acquit, even if its verdict is contrary to the law as given by a judge, and contrary to the evidence.'
4th Circuit Court of Appeals

'When a jury acquits a defendent even though he or she clearly appears to be guilty, the acquittal conveys significant information about community attitudes and provides a guideline for future prosecutorial discretion... Because of the high acquittal rate in prohibition cases in the 1920s and early 1930s, prohibition laws could not be enforced. The repeal of these laws is traceable to the refusal of juries to convict those accused of alcohol traffic.'
Alan Sheflin & Jon Van Dyke

'For evil to triumph it is only necessary for good men to do nothing.'
Edmund Burke

'The price of freedom is eternal vigilance'

Links:
Amnesty International UK
Liberty UK
Activists Legal Project
Your Rights
Libertarian Alliance

Books / Resources:

Chaos & Beyond:
The Best of Trajectories
Robert Anton Wilson

amazon.co.uk
amazon.com

The New Inquisition
Robert Anton Wilson

amazon.co.uk
amazon.com