He says tht in civil suits the jury are "Sworn well
and truly to try the issue between the parties; and a true verdict to
give according to the evidence." 3 Blackstone, 365.
"The issue" to be tried is whether A owes B anything and if so,
how much? or whether A has in his possession anything that
belongs to B; or whether A has wronged B, and ought to make
compensation; and if so, how much?
No statute passed by a legislature, simply as a legislature, can alter
either of these "issues" in hardly any conceivable case, perhaps in
none. No unjust law could ever alter them in any. They are all
mere questions of natural justice, which legislatures have no power to
alter, and with which they have no right to interfere, further than to
provide for having them settled by the most competent and impartial
tribunal that it is practicable to have, and then for having all just decisions
enforced. And any tribunal, whether judge or jury, that attempts to
try these issues, has no more moral right to be swerved from the
line of justice, by the will of a legislature, than by the will of any other
body of men whatever.
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