disregard it; their verdict ought to be according to their
own opinion as to the prisoner's guilt or innocence. (See
Farmer's Trial, p. 68.)

In the trial of William S. Smith for misdemeanor, in the Circuit
Court of the United States for the State of New York, in July,
1806, the jury were instructed as follows:

You have heard much said upon the right of a jury to judge
of the law as well as the fact. Be assured that on this
occasion there is not the least desire to abridge those
rights. I am an advocate for the independence of the jury.
It is the basis of civil liberty; and in this country, I
trust, will ever be a sacred bulwark against oppression and
encroachment upon political freedom. The law is now settled
that this right appertains to a jury in all criminal cases.

On the trial of John Hodges for high treason, before the Circuit
Court of the United States for the District of Maryland, in 1815,
the Court charged the jury as follows:

The court said they were bound to declare the law whenever
they were called upon, in civil or criminal cases. In the
latter, however, it was also their duty to inform the jury
that they were not obliged to take their direction as to the
law. (Hodge's Trial, p. 20.)

The elementary writers declare the same principle. Blackstone, 4
Comm., 361, says:

And such public or open verdict may be either general
(guilty or not guilty) or special, setting forth all the
circumstances of the case, and praying the judgment of the
court, whether, for instance, on the facts stated, it be
murder, manslaughter, or no crime at all. This is where they
doubt the matter of the law, and therefore choose to leave
it to the determination of the court; though they have an
unquestionable right of determining upon all the
circumstances and finding a general verdict, if they think
proper so to hazard a breach of their oaths; and, if their
verdict be notoriously wrong, they may be punished and the
verdict set aside by attaint at the suit of the King, but
not at the suit of the prisoner. But the practice heretofore
in use of fining, imprisoning, or otherwise punishing
juror