ABSTRACT
Justice is coupled with equality, with law being the identified means of achieving both. This theme is encapsulated in the motto over the US Supreme Court building, 'Equal Justice under Law'. The jury, as the historian E. P. Thompson has observed, sits in judgement not only of the accused but of the justice and humanity of the law. In some instances, the law criminalizes conduct which the citizenry is unconvinced should have been made criminal in the first place. The juries had effectively created the crimes of petty robbery and petty burglary. In minor cases of assault juries will acquit rather than subject the defendant to potential criminal sanctions. Statutes which are alleged to be unjust because of their content or the sanction attached to them will ultimately need to be corrected through legislative channels. The jury not only judges the justice of the law and its sanctions, but also the justice of the prosecution in the individual case.
