Jury nullification
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Jury nullification, also known as jury equity or as a perverse verdict, is a decision by the jury in a criminal trial resulting in a verdict of not guilty even though they believe a defendant has brok
The Trial of the Seven Bishops by John Rogers Herbert
A 19th-century jury
Even prior to Bushel's Case, Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, a non-Episcopalian English Dissenter, or Nonconformist, outside the established Church of England, was acquitted by a jury despite hostility of the judges.
Plaque at the Old Bailey
Seven Bishops
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The Seven Bishops were members of the Church of England tried and acquitted for seditious libel in the Court of King's Bench in June 1688. The very unpopular prosecution of the bishops is viewed as a
Jury nullification
…inappropriate by the Court of Common Pleas in Bushel's Case. In 1681, a grand jury refused to indict the Earl of Shaftesbury. In 1688, a jury acquitted the Seven Bishops of the Church of England of seditious libel. Juries continued, even in non-criminal cases, to act in defiance of the Crown. In 1763 and 1765, juries…
The Seven Bishops
James II; attempts to impose the Declaration of Indulgence destroyed his support base
Henry Compton, Bishop of London; already suspended by James, he was not one of the Seven but played a significant role in the petition
Lord Jeffreys, the Lord Chancellor, who urged James not to prosecute