Jury nullification

Jury nullification occurs when a jury fails to follow the law as set out by the judge and acquits an accused because the jury see a conviction as unjust.

A recent American case, where a jury would not convict on certain drug charges, raised the issue again.

It is well established that jury nullification is proper in Canada but a lawyer may not ask for, nor a judge instruct on, the right to nullify.

Juries are to serve generally as "finders of facts", whose role it is to determine the veracity of the evidence presented, and the weight accorded to the evidence, but not the application of that evidence to the law. As a result jury nullification -- where a jury judges the law -- is extraordinary. In Canada the most well-know example of jury nullification was the abortion cases in Quebec where juries repeatedly refused to convict.