The Full Story
In 1670, William Penn and William Mead were tried at the Old Bailey for preaching Quakerism, illegal under the Conventicle Act. The evidence was clear. The judge expected conviction.
The jury acquitted.
The judge was furious. He refused to accept the verdict. He locked the jury in the courtroom without food, water, or heat. He fined them. When they still refused to convict, he imprisoned them.
Edward Bushel, one of the jurors, had had enough. From prison, he sued for a writ of habeas corpus. The case went to the Court of Common Pleas.
Chief Justice Vaughan's ruling changed English law forever. Jurors, he declared, could not be punished for their verdicts. A jury must be free to decide according to their conscience, not according to what the judge wants. If jurors can be punished for 'wrong' verdicts, the whole point of jury trial, judgment by peers not by the state, is destroyed.
Bushel's Case established jury independence. No English juror since has been punished for their verdict. The jury became a true safeguard against government overreach.
Why This Matters
Bushel's Case made juries independent. Before 1670, judges could bully juries into convicting. After Bushel, juries became genuine checks on government power, able to acquit even when the law says convict.