David L. Bazelon Quotes
Nullification is not a 'defense' recognized by law, but rather a mechanism that permits a jury, as community conscience, to disregard the strict requirements of law where it finds that those requirements cannot justly be applied in a particular case.
Bazelon, David L. Opinion Concurring in Part and Dissenting in Part. United States v. Dougherty. 473 F.2d 1113. United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 1972.
Ever since that decision was written, lawmakers, judges and attorneys have worked very hard to minimize its impact and allow the jury to only decide on the facts and not the law. Only Maryland today preserves the right of the jury to decide what the law means and to judge it. Authorities, even democratic ones, do all they can to prevent what is called “jury nullification”. Regardless, juries often exercise that right regardless of the judge’s instructions.
This is a very important and fundamental quotation. Jefferson, John Adams, John Jay and many other Founding Fathers told us that the jury of peers was the final arbiter of a court case. However, many modern judges and legislatures have tried to erode that principle. In most states judges instructs juries that they are the final arbiter of the facts but he/she is the final arbiter of the law and how it should be applied in the case. But the founders wanted the jury to be the final arbiters of the law as well as the facts as is illustrated here and in {640587} and {640589}. For a more modern concurring view, see {640590}.
This principle that the jury may, if it chooses, decide on the law and not neccessarily follow the Judges instructions on the law was held by John Adams and John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, as well as political and judicial leaders throughout American History. But in the 20th century the Judiciary and many legeslatures has tried to restrict taht freedom of the Juries. At the beginning of the 21st Century, the only state whose laws explictly followed that practice was Maryland, and even there, very few judges ever informed juries that they could override or ignore him on matters of law.
David Lionel Bazelon was a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
