“But for their right to judge of the law, and the justice of the law, juries would be no protection to an accused person, even as to matters of fact; for, if the government can dictate to a jury any law whatever, in a criminal case, it can certainly dictate to them the laws of evidence.”

American abolitionist, lawyer, and political philosopher

Lysander Spooner was an American abolitionist, entrepreneur, lawyer, essayist, legal theorist, pamphleteer, political philosopher, and writer. He is often associated with the Boston anarchist tradition. Spooner wrote on natural rights and law, and his work placed him among the notable American radical thinkers of the 19th century. He is remembered for his arguments against slavery and for writing in forms that were meant to reach a broad political audience, including essays and pamphlets.