"Underlying the conception of the jury as a bulwark against
the unjust use of governmental power were the distrust of 'legal experts' and a faith in the ability of the common people. Upon this faith rested the prevailing political philosophy of the constitution-framing era: that popular control over, and participation in, government should be maximized. Thus John Adams stated that 'the common people... should have as complete a control, as decisive a negative, in every judgment of a court of judicature' as they have, through the legislature, in other decisions of government." Note (anon.) The Changing Role of the Jury in the Nineteenth Century, Yale Law Journal, 74, 172, (1964).
|
