# How common is nullification and habeus corpus?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-nullification-and-habeus-corpus/322207>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 18, 2005, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-nullification-and-habeus-corpus/322207 "2005-09-18T10:27:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2005, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-nullification-and-habeus-corpus/322207/1 "2005-09-18T10:27:50Z")

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How often are juries annulled? I presume it’s quite rare, as the fact that a jury may annull isn’t generally advertised. If a jury annulled, would it make the news, or does it happen quite often without us knowing?

Also, how common is it for a prisoner to petition a judge for habeus corpus?

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**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2005, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-nullification-and-habeus-corpus/322207/2 "2005-09-18T18:00:20Z")

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Juries don’t get annulled; they’re the ones who do the annulling. I don’t have any stats, but I think it’s fairly uncommon. It usually only happens when the law in question is controversial or unpopular in that community. As such, it tends to make the news. It might be hard to compile reliable numbers because there’s no box on the jury form that says “We’re annulling the law.” The jury just votes to acquit, despite the fact that the evidence clearly indicates guilt.

I really don’t know anything about habeus corpus, so I’ll let someone else deal with that.

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**Author:** ![Flipshod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f19dbf/32.png) [@Flipshod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flipshod)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-nullification-and-habeus-corpus/322207/3 "2005-09-18T18:37:34Z")

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habeas corpus petitions happen all the time–prisoners with lots of time on their hands file them repeatedly–they’re just a way to try to get an appeals hearing–nothing out of the ordinary at all