Jury Power To Decide "Law and Fact" in All Criminal Cases:

Apropos the Jury Rights Day post, I thought I'd mention that the Indiana, Maryland, and Oregon Constitutions specifically provide that:

  1. Indiana: "In all criminal cases whatever, the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the facts."
  2. Maryland: "In the trial of all criminal cases, the Jury shall be the Judges of Law, as well as of fact, except that the Court may pass upon the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain a conviction.
  3. Oregon: "In all criminal cases whatever, the jury shall have the right to determine the law, and the facts under the direction of the Court as to the law, and the right of new trial, as in civil cases."

I'm not an expert on jury power and jury nullification, though, and I can't speak with confidence about the precise original meaning of the phrases, or about how judges have interpreted them. I should also note that quite a few state constitutions (including that of my own California) expressly guarantee a similar power, but only in libel cases.

(This material originally appeared in the Jury Rights Day post, but a few minutes later I decided it merited a separate post.)