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On this day, Sep. 5, in 1670, a London jury acquitted William Penn of illegally preaching his religion (Quakerism) despite the facts showing that he had violated the law.The jury believed the law to be unjust, and protected liberty and did justice by refusing to convict. This is the practice known as jury nullification.The jury was fined for its verdict, but 4 members refused to pay the fine, saying that punishing a jury for following its conscience violated the rights of Englishman and turned a jury of one's peers into a jury by government.For refusing to pay the fine, the 4 jurors, including the jury foreman, Edward Bushell, were imprisoned. Their appeal to the English Court of Common Pleas resulted in a landmark decision that has never been reversed in English or American law - juries cannot be punished for whatever verdict they deliver, even if the judge thinks they ignored the facts and simply refused to apply the unjust or unconstitutional law.The Fully Informed Jury Association, in honor of Bushell and his fellow jurors and of Penn, calls this Jury Rights Day.Years later, when Penn had founded and was living in Pennsylvania, he wrote that the “Birth-Right of Englishman” could “be reduced to these Three:”1. An Ownership, and Undisturbed Possession: That what they have, is Rightly theirs, and no Body’s else.2. A Voting of every Law that is made, whereby that Ownership or Propriety may be maintained.3. An Influence upon, and a Real Share in that Judicatory Power that must apply every such Law, which is the Ancient Necesssary and Laudable Use of Juries: If not found among the Britains, to be sure Practised by the Saxons, and continued through the Normans to this very Day.The real, fundamental issue going on in Penn's trial was who was the boss. Was it the judges and their elite friends? Or the people?Penn understood the fundamental political question for all times. And deep in his gut, he knew that juries are a way that the citizens exercise control over governmental officials who are supposed to work for them.