Consider the period preceding that nasty ruckus known to Yankees as the Civil War and to Bubbas as the War of Northern Aggression. The fugitive slave laws were chiseled deep into the big stone tablet in the hollowed halls of judicialness. People helping slaves escape to freedom were therefore subject to prosecution. But thanks to a not yet outlawed detail known as a conscience, most weren t convicted. Too many jury members thought these laws were, well, stupid.
Some legal sticklers scowl that jury nullification means people taking the law into their own hands.
It s not their law. It s our law. There s no chicken or egg question here. We came first. You and me and Sally and Bob and Uncle Guido.