Horace Gray

“ But the court can never order the jury to convict, for no one can be found guilty but by the judgment of his peers.
Decisions of courts, and especially of courts of last resort, upon issues of law, such as are presented by a demurrer or by a special verdict, become precedents to govern judicial decisions in like cases in the future. But the verdict of a jury, upon the general issue of guilty or not guilty, settles nothing but the guilt or innocence of the accused in the particular case ”

“ Having pleaded not guilty, they could only be convicted by the verdict of a jury. If a homicide was committed with malice, it was murder; if committed without malice, but without any lawful excuse, it was manslaughter only. The burden of proof at every step was upon the government. In order to obtain a conviction of murder, it must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the homicide was committed with malice. ”

“ Every man, of any feeling or conscience, will answer, 'No.' It is not only his right, but his duty, in that case, to find the verdict according to his own best understanding, judgment, and conscience, though in direct opposition to the direction of the court.' 'The English law obliges no man to decide a cause upon oath against his own judgment.' 2 John Adams' Works, 253-255. ”

“ The rules and principles of the criminal law are, for the most part, elementary and simple, and easily understood by jurors taken from the body of the people. As every citizen or subject is conclusively presumed to know the law, and cannot set up his ignorance of it to excuse him from criminal responsibility for offending against it, a jury of his peers must be presumed to have equal knowledge, and, especially after being aided by the explanation an dexposition of the law by counsel and court, to be capable of applying it to the facts as proved by the evidence before them. ”

“ It has been said that, if not their legal duty, it is their moral duty, to follow the instructions of the court in matter of law. But moral duties, as distinguished from legal duties, are governed, not by human, but by divine, laws; and the oath which the jurors in a capital case severally take to the Almighty Judge is to well and truly try and true deliverance make between the government and the prisoner at the bar, according to their evidence, not according to the instructions of the court, and to decide whether, in their own judgment and conscience, the accused is guilty or not guilty. ”

“ That, as often as they are not blended, the power of the court is absolute and exclusive. That in civil cases it is always so, and may rightfully be so exerted. That in criminal cases, the law and fact being always blended, the jury, for reasons of a political and peculiar nature, for the security of life and liberty, is intrusted with the power of deciding both law and fact. ”

“ In 1816, upon the trial of an indictment for murder, the supreme judicial court of Massachusetts, held by Chief Justice Parker and Justices Jackson and Putnam, instructed the jury as follows: 'In all capital cases the jury are the judges of the law and fact. The court are to direct them in matters of law, and, although it is safer for them to rely on the instructions derived from that source, still, gentlemen, they are to decide for themselves.' Bowen's Trial, 13 Mass. ”

“ The true criterion of a legal power is its capacity to produce a definitive effect, liable neither to censure nor review. And the verdict of not guilty, in a criminal case, is, in every respect, absolutely final. ”

“ In a case in which the jury, as appeared by their inquiries of the court, were in doubt whether the homicide committed by the defendants was murder or manslaughter, to instruct them that they could not acquit the defendants of murder and convict them of manslaughter only, but must find them guilty of murder or of no crime at all, does not appear to us to differ, in principle, from instructing them, in a case in which there was no question of manslaughter, that there was no evidence upon which they could acquit the defendant, or do anything but convict him of murder. ”

“ On the other hand, when there is no question concerning the law, and the controversy between the parties depends entirely upon a matter of fact, the determination of this matter, brought to an issue, belongs exclusively to the jury. But in many cases the question of law is intimately and inseparably blended with the question of fact, and when this is the case the decision of one necessarily involves the decision of the other. ”

“ Theophilus Parsons, in the Massachusetts convention of 1788, answering the objection that the constitution of the United States, as submitted to the people for adoption, contained no bill of rights, said: 'The people themselves have it in their power effectually to resist usurpation, without being driven to an appeal to arms. An act of usurpation is not obligatory; it is not law; and any man may be justified in his resistance. ”

“ On Lord Camden's motion, the bill was postponed, in order to enable the house to consider the opinion of the judges, and was then proceeded with, when Lord Camden 'exposed the fallacy of the pretended distinction between law and fact, in the question of guilty or not guilty of printing and publishing a libel. They were united as much as intent and action in the consideration of all other criminal proceedings. Without an implied malice, a man could not be found guilty, even of murder. The simply killing of a man was nothing, until it was proved that the act arose from malice. ”

“ In the first place, however, it is not likely often to happen that the jury will resist the opinion of the court on the matter of law. That opinion will generally receive its due weight and effect; an in civil cases it can and always ought to be ultimately enforced by the power of setting aside the verdict. But in human institutions the question is not whether every evil contingency can be avoided, but what arrangement will be productive of the least inconvenience. ”

“ It is to be remembered that, by the law of England, a person convicted of treason or felony could not appeal, or move for a new trial, or file a bill of exceptions, or in any other manner obtain a judicial review of rulings or instructions not appearing upon the record, unless the judge himself saw fit to reserve the question for the opinion of all the judges. ”

“ Every man sees that the jury is but a troublesome delay, great charge, and of no use in determining right and wrong, and therefore the trials by them may be better abolished than continued; which were a strange new-found conclusion, after a trial so celebrated for many hundreds of years. ”

“ Lord Brougham, in his sketch of Lord Camden, declares that 'the manly firmness which he uniformly displayed in maintaining the free principles of the constitution, wholly unmixed with any leaning towards extravagant popular opinions, or any disposition to court vulgar favour, justly entitles him to the very highest place among the judges of England' ”

“ The law has established this tribunal, because it is believed that, from its numbers, the mode of their selection, and the fact that the jurors come from all classes of society, they are better calculated to judge of motives, weigh probabilities, and take what may be called a 'common-sense view' of a set of circumstances, involving both act and intent, than any single man, however pure, wise, and eminent he may be. ”

“ On the other hand, it is a matter of common observation that judges and lawyers, even the most upright, able, and learned, are sometimes too much influenced by technical rules; and that those judges who are wholly or chiefly occupied in the administration of criminal justice are apt, not only to grow severe in their sentences, but to decide questions of law too unfavorably to the accused. ”

“ In civil cases, doubtless, since the power to grant new trials has become established, the court, having the right to grant one to either party as often as the verdict appears to be contrary to the law, or to the evidence, may, in order to avoid unnecessary delay, whenever, in its opinion, the evidence will warrant a verdict for one party only, order a verdict accordingly. ”

“ The later history of the law of England upon the right of the jury to decide the law in criminal cases is illustrated by a long conflict between the views of Mr. Murray, afterwards Lord Mansfield, against the right, and of Mr. Pratt, afterwards Lord Camden, in its favor, which, after the public sentiment had been aroused by the great argument of Mr. Erskine in Dean of St. Asaph's Case, was finally settled, in accordance with Lord Camden's view, by a declaratory act of parliament. ”

“ But a person accused of crime has a twofold protection-in the court and the jury-against being unlawfully convicted. If the evidence appears to the court to be insufficient in law to warrant a conviction, the court may direct an acquittal. ”