The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-07-15
TIT rowrRs or Jupors.


 The Advertiser is in receipt of the fol- lowing inquiries: ~
 Editor The Advertiser:
 win you please answcr the following questions through the columns of your paper?
 D Is it right for a judge of any court in charging q jury, to tell the jurors that the person or persons Cf one side of the case are guilty? Has he any more persons are guilty than to tell them that the person or persons are not guilty? Is not the evidence for the purpose of which the Jury are to 60 .oyf -s
 @ If a person makes sworn state ment, and then after he makes this state- ment he is 6 witness in the same case in which he has made this statement, con- tradicts himself, under oath again. Is not this perjury? And is not this against the Constitution of the United States?
 @ If attorneys or other persons gre going to prosecute a person or persons, and the attorneysSor persons gets wit nesses against the person or persons they are going to prosecute, and take these penses or keep them until time tor the trial to take place, is not this bribery, country? w. T. Davis.
 Corrie, Ala. July ls. -7'
 The Advertiser will answer these ques. tions seriatim to the best of its ability:
 U In the State Courts, statutes prevent the judge from charging the jury on the effect of the evidence. unless written re- quest is made. In the United States Courts, judges ever since these courts were founded have followed the practice, which has oeen many times upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States, of giving the jury their opinion upon the the ends of justice, and may direct the jury to convict or acquit where the evi- dence Is without dispute. A lawyer friend. to whom The Advertiser submit- ted the question. gives us this quotation from one of the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States on this sub- ject:
 ''1t is established by repeated decisions that a court of the United States, in sub- discretion express its opinion upon the facts, and that such an opinion is not reviewahle on error so long as no rule of law is incorrectly stated, and ell matters are ultimately submitted to the determi- nation of the jury. It is quite common in the United States Courts, for the judges in criminal matters to tell juries that they do not think we'll of the case for the prosecution, and often when the facts are clear and undfsputed, they instruct the jury, if they believe the evidence. to find the defendant guilty. The jury is to go by the evidence and the law, where the evidence is not dis puted. and 1t is for the court to say what the law on the undisputed evidence is.
 @ Perjury cannot be sustained unless the oath was taken in some legal pro- ceedings. If the witness makes a corrupt and intentionally false statement in any matter. he is indictabie for perjury under the laws of the United States, If the mat ter relates to proceedings in its courts.
 (s) If the prosecuting attorney of 6 State or United States Court takes care of witnesses, pays their board and keeps them until the trial takes place, 1t does not constitute bribery, and is not against the law. The government, when witt nesses are liable to be tempered with or intimidated. frequently takes them in charge.