The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-07-25

l ana man Wouiu De a pad man WIG | would undertake, whether he was judge
 or In any other capacity, to undermine
 or infringe in any way the power, right
 duties and responsibility of the jury. The jury ascertain what. the facts are. in that | sense they are the tryers of the facts.
 They hear and look at witnesses. They | square human transactions by the test of l human nature; utilize their every day | experience and then announce the result
 in what is called verdct-the truth as ! to facts under investigation. Whenever the facts are in dispute. when all reasJn- | able men would not draw the same con
 clusion from them, if they are not in dis
 pute, then it is the function of the jury ! to say what the facts are When the | facts are not in dispute. and all reason able men draw from them the same i'm ference, then it becomes a pure question l of law, which is the province of the court. ! The glory of our civ .lization is that these I two bodies. the jury and the judge. act ing in harmony. one declaring the law, and the other declaring the facts. shall administer justice. In the courts of our | forefathers and in court of the United States from the earliest days 1t has been the right of the judge If he thinks the ends of justice can be subserved, to go over the facts with the jury. He may ad- wise them as to the facts so long as he leaves them to understand that they are
 
 in a case where the evidence Is in irrccon-
 cilab,e conflict, judge may express his opinion as to the facts and the jury may
 take that opinion for what it is worth Where the facts are not in dispute, and
 where all reasonable men draw the same
 inference from them. then nothing is presented but a pure question of law.
 which 1t Is the duty of the court to de-
 clare and of the Jury to follow. If d
 judge of lower court errs, or makes a
 mistake in the law. there is higher
 court which will correct It. The law Is
 thus made and kept uniform. If juries
 were judges of the law you would have
 as many laws as Juries. You would not
 have any certainty about the law. The
 judge besides is best fitted to determine
 law questions. It is not necessary to say
 that in anything I may say in going as
 to disputed facts in this case, 1t Is not the intention of the court to invade the
 province of the jury. No man who tries questions of fact, as judges often do in Chancery, can fail to wish at times that
 he had a jury of twelve intelligent men to help out, to bear the load and take tho responsibility.
 All of us have taken an oath. Here is the oath the judge of this court takes: q do solemn!y swear that will administer justice without respect of persons. and do equal right to the poor and to the rich.
 and that I will impartially discharge all the duties incumbent upon me as judge, according to the best of my ability and
 understanding, agreeable to the constitu- u- ton and laws of the United States, so
 help me God" The judge of this court in aiding the jury as to the facts and
 directing them as to matters of law is bound to administer justice without re-
 spect of persons. and to do equal right to
 tho poor and to the rich.' Your duty in
 this respect binds you to the same stand
 ard. You occupy an exalted position. Ac-
 cording to the constitution and laws of the United States, although they have
 over eighty millions of people. you twelve
 men in that jury box, and th.s man on the bench, out of all those millions of human beings. are the only ones who can lawfully say word as to the guilt or in-
 nucense of defendant. or take any part in
 shaping the issues of the cause, after it
 has been submitted. You and I are ser-
 wants of the law and to that extent ser wants of the people in so far as the people i, make the law: but we are not the ser wants of the people, except as to the laws they make. We are bound to administer ! the laws as they make them. The laws | are the only public opinion that d judge or jury can regard, that public opinion
 which is put in the statute
 books, or become part of 1 the law by decisions of courts This government is too great, too power
 full and has too glorious a mission on
 earth to wish to convict any citizen un
 justly. I do not know a greater wrong l than when the power of the government | is unjustly employed to convict a citizen.
 It is a wrong which can be equalled only when its power Is perverted to acquit a guilty man. Now, put out of your minds. as far as you can. anything that you have heard elsewhere, or what has been said elsewhere, either at home or abroad, So we do our full duty it makes no diff l ference to us, sitting here administering justice, what anybody may have said or | thought about us at home. or elsewhere.
 The reputation and character of every
 man. every people. every section. is in | their keeping. They cannot be hurt by what people may say We can be hurt | only by what we ourselves do.
 The law presumes the defendant inno- cent until his guilt is established beyond
 reasonable doubt. One of the first things you will ask, what do you mean | by a reasonable doubt? The greatest ] judges have acknowledged the difficulty of I giving any useful definition of it to a ' jury. If tell you a reasonable doubt Is | doubt for which a reason may be given. | or a good reason may be given. you do
 not know much more than you did before. | If tell you it is such a conviction upon
 which you would act in the highest af- fairs Of life, where your own interest was concerned, you would not be much wiser. | If tell you that 1t must not be a fan ciTul doubt, but must arise out of the evil dence, and you cannot have things to a
 mathematical certainty. but must be sat | isfied to a moral certainty and have an abiding conviction, that would not help | you much. A reasonable doubt cannot well be defined. Our Maker has put in every man somewhere a monitor. some thing we call conscience lou have a
 reasonable doubt when, after weighing all
 the evidence, testing 1t by your knowledge of human nature, looking at the witnesses. their bias, their interest, their manner and all that. you feel that your conscience tells you it would not be right to do this way or that way. Whenever as a con
 scientious man, you feel 1t would not be right or safe to find certain way. you have a reasonable doubt on that point. You cannot in human affairs, have math-
 ematical certainty, you cannot prove facts
 like you would problem in mathematics. All that you have to do in passing upon
 issues of fact Is to be satisfied using the
 test that have given you. beyond a req
 sonable doubt, that this fact is so, or that
 fact Is so. and acting accordingly. There is one witness that is always on the stand. although he is never sworn, that
 is human nature-your knowledge of the habit. thoughts. modes of life. of men.
 how they act under given conditions. You
 have a right to test a transaction by your
 common sense and common Knowledge
 just as much as if some witness call
 ed common sense or common knowledge, bad &nIy Nbe -tn nn6