Z. Snow

“ If the law suffered a person to be punished upon mere rumour, or upon strong circumstance, accompanied with the communication of our best—our bosom friends, without the usual tests of truth which have been established, we might well pause and wonder whereunto this would grow. ”

“ If you find the defendant gave him the mortal wound, you will then inquire whether the killing was lawful or unlawful. In law every killing of one human being by another of sound mind, is unlawful, except such as the law excuses or justifies.
If a person when doing a lawful act, by accident kills another, it is excusable homicide. If a person kills another on a sudden attack in defence of himself, wife, child, parent, or servant, it is excusable homicide. ”

“ No one ought to be punished unless he be guilty of an act worthy of punishment, nor even then, unless that act has been declared to be penal by the law of the land, and the punishment directed, nor until he has had an opportunity of having a fair and impartial trial, for, peradventure, he may not be guilty as alleged against him. ”

“ Reasonable doubts are not merely capricious doubts, but such as reasonable men may honestly entertain. We often have painful duties to discharge, but ought not for this reason to shrink from duty. It is better to bear with many wrong acts, than for the accomplishment of a given object, to depart from the great and well-approved principles on. ”