Andrew Hamilton Quote

Quote from Andrew Hamilton,

"I know, may it please your honour, the jury may do so; but I do likewise know they may do otherwise. I know they have the right, beyond all dispute, to determine both the law and the fact; and where they do not doubt the law, they ought to do so. This of leaving it to the judgment of the Court whether the words are libelous or not in effect renders juries useless (to say no worse) in many cases."

By:	Andrew Hamilton (more quotes by Andrew Hamilton or books by/about Andrew Hamilton)
	(c.1676-1741) Scottish lawyer in colonial America
Source:	August 4, 1735, made to the jury as defense counsel at the seditious libel trial of John Peter Zenger; Rex. V. Zenger, How. St. Tr. 17:675 (1735); quoted in Stanley N. Katz, Introduction to James Alexander, A Brief Narrative Of The Case And Trial Of John Peter Zenger, 3-5 (Stanley N. Katz ed. 1963).
Categories:	Judiciary, Jury, Law, Sovereignty
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