Thomas Sowell Quotes
“Hard cases make bad law” is another way the tragic vision has been expressed. To help some hard-pressed individual or group whose case is before them, judges may bend the law to arrive at a more benign verdict in that particular case—but at the cost of damaging the whole consistency and predictability of the law, on which millions of other people depend, and on which ultimately the freedom and safety of a whole society depend.
Thomas Sowell, The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy, Basic Books (1996)
Many of our Founding Fathers held the view that the Jurors should decide not only about the facts but also they have the final decision on the law. The concept of the jury not following the judge’s interpretation and instructions as to the law is called Jury Nullification of which many of the founders approved. In modern times however, most states require the jury to accept the judge’s instructions as to the law, and the Jury’s only role is to decide on the facts. Maryland is the only state left which allows the jury to make the final decision on the law as well as the facts. However, many jurors will silently nullify the Judges instructions and vote accordingly as jurors need not explain their reasoning in most jurisdictions. See {641742}, {590841}, {591140} & {591139} for similar views by other Founding Fathers.
This document was a type of Magna Carta but far earlier.
Thomas Sowell is an American economist, social theorist, and senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
