"One of the peculiar dangers ... to which jurors, as well as judges, are exposed, is the _unpopularity, or obnoxiousness_ ... of any particular law, which has been violated, leading _us_ ... to be timid or unfaithful in enforcing it ... the subject-matter being a delicate or offensive one." "While we ... are holding the scales as well as the sword of Justice, in _humble imitation of the Divine Judge_ on high," it is our duty to "_let law, as law_, [that is, whether it is just or unjust] _reign supreme_, reign equally over all, and as to _all things_, no less than persons; and till it is changed by the proper authorities, _not to interpose our individual caprices or fancies or speculations_ [that is, our _convictions of justice_] _to defeat its due course and triumph_." We must _not_ "_disregard laws_, when disliked, _because we can_, under the universal suffrage enjoyed here, _otherwise help_ legally _to change or annul them_ by our votes." "As jurors _you have sworn to obey them till so changed_, and ought to stand by them faithfully, to the last moment of their existence." "We are safest in our capacity of public officers ... to execute the laws as they are [right or wrong], _while others_ who may make or retain bad laws in the statute-book, _are answerable for their own wrong_. If they preserve laws on the statute-book, which are darkness rather than light and life to the people, theirs is the fault, [that is, if a blacksmith make a dagger, and tell us to stab an innocent man with it, we must obey, and the blame will rest on the blacksmith who made the dagger, not on the assassin who murdered with it!] In some cases, also, when we think the _existing laws and punishments are wrong_, and hence venture to encourage others in disobedience by neglecting to indict and punish offenders, it should make us pause and halt when it is remembered, it may turn out that _we_ ourselves _may not be exactly Solons or Solomons_ in these respects, nor quite so much wiser than the laws themselves, as sometimes we are hastily induced to suppose." "Miserable must be the fate of that community where the ministers of the law are themselves disposed to disregard it;" "government will become a curse;" "and this whether such a _betrayal of public trust_ springs from the _delusions of false philanthropy or fanatical prejudices, no less than when it comes from unbridled licentiousness_."