On 7/8/06, Michael Snow <wikipedia(a)earthlink.net> wrote:
Jury nullification does not
involve a judge or some other higher authority nullifying the decision
of the jury. Jury nullification refers to the ability of the jury to
reach a verdict contrary to the law and the instructions of the court.
Fans of the concept like to cite John Peter Zenger's acquittal on a
charge of libel as an example of this.
Exactly right, to the best of my knowledge. The American legal system
and others like it treats this as an unfixable bug in the jury system;
despite all exhortations to the contrary, the jury can reach any
conclusions it likes for whatever reason it wishes. Some activists
and others, however, try and push the idea that juries' ability to
ignore laws they disagree with is a feature, not a bug.
-Matt