http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstones_formulation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstones_formulation "It is better that ten guilty persons escape than tha

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstones_formulation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstones_formulation "It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer", ...as expressed by the English jurist William Blackstone in his seminal work, Commentaries on the Laws of England, published in the 1760s. It is worth note that the actual numbers are not generally seen as important, so much as the idea that the State should not cause undue or mistaken harm "just in case". Historically, the details of the ratio change, but the message that government and the courts must err on the side of innocence is constant.