by John Marshall Harlan

“ A careful examination of the opinion in Kring v. Missouri shows that the judgment in that case proceeded on the ground that the change in the law of Missouri as to the effect of a conviction of murder in the second degree-the accused being charged with murder in the first degree-was not simply a change in procedure, but such an alteration of the previous law as took from the accused, after conviction of murder in the second degree, that protection against punishment for murder in the first degree which was given him at the time of the commission of the offense. ”

“ Remedies must always be under the control of the legislature, and it would create endless confusion in legal proceedings if every case was to be conducted only in accordance with the rules of practice, and heard only by the courts in existence when its facts arose. The legislature may abolish courts and create new ones, and it may prescribe altogether different modes of procedure in its discretion, though it cannot lw fully, we think, in so doing, dispense with any of those substantial protections with which the existing law surrounds the person accused of crime. ”

“ If, for instance, the statute had taken from the jury the right to determine the sufficiency or effect of the evidence which it made admissible, a different question would have been presented. We mean now only to adjudge that the statute is to be e garded as one merely regulating procedure, and may be applied to crimes committed prior to its passage without impairing the substantial guaranties of life and liberty that are secured to an accused by the supreme law of the land. ”

“ The theory of the prosecution was that the accused had obtained the strychnine specified in the prescription, and put it into food that he delivered or caused to be delivered to the deceased with intent to destroy his life. ”