“Better 1000 guilty men go free than one innocent person spend one day in jail.
Nonsense.
“
Then you’ll be happy to volunteer for to go to jail for that innocent person since you think the greater good would be served.
Why am I the only one who visibly remembers this harks back to William Blackstone?
The point is that if you are truly unclear of the legality of a matter, mercy should reign. Again he didn’t pull this out of his rear; it is a biblical trope. It even is supposed to be reflected in the modern standards of civil law (preponderance of evidence) and criminal law (guilty beyond a reasonable doubt).