The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-07-22
NO rxcusr FOR Al LAwYERi

NV 1AAS00& 8S8S "A A4 W . &3kNI Whatever excuse there may be for ignorance among iaymen, there Is no ex- cuse for a lawyer to berate Judge Jones for invading the province of the jury, by the charge in the Turner case. or by what was afterwards said to the jury The Advertisers editor. although a lay man, comes to this conclusion, after hav- ing read the case of Sparf & Hinson vs. United States, 156 U. s., S5, which we are told is the leading authority in this coun- try. It finds from reading this decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that judges of national reputation and eminence have often given charges idepti- cal with that Judge Jones gave the jury. Judge Sergeant, a great judge. charged 8 jury: ''the point, If you believe the evidence on both sides, Is one of law. on which it is your duty to receive the in- structions of the court. If you believe the evidence in the whole case. you must find the defendant guilty" ITO the same effect" says the Supreme Court of the SuttCo ohotCSs aHOOdA8 o NooC app AONAho ly. was the language of Chief Justice Gibson, who. when closing a charge in a capital case, said: 'If the evidence on these points fails the prisoner, the con- clusion of his guilt will be irresistible, and 1t will be your duty to draw it," In later case. quoted by the Supreme Court of the United States. it approves this language used by Chief Justice Sharswood. "The court had the undoubted right to instruct the jury as to the law and to warn them as they did against finding contrary to it." Discussing this question of the province of the jury, the Supreme Court of the United States, in the case first cited, ends its opinion, by Justice Curtis, one of the ablest lawyers of the times, wherein he says:
 As long as the judges of the United States are obliged to express their opin- | ions publicly, to give their reasons for them when they are called upon in the usual mode, and to stand responsible for them, not only to public opinion. but to a court of impeachment, can apprehend very little danger of the laws being wrested to purposes of injustice: but or the other hand. do consider that this
 
 court authoritatively to declare the law i: one of the highest safeguards of the citl zen. The sole ends of courts of justice Is to enforce the laws uniformly and i'm partially without respect of persons oi times or opinions of men. To enforce popular laws is easy. But when an un. popular cause is a just cause; when a law. unpopular in some locality. is to be l enforced. there then comes the strain upon the administration of justice, and | few unprejudiced men would hesitate as to where the strain would be most firmly borne.
 The strain upon the administration of justice'' fell to the lot of Judge Jones that strain has been most firmly borne. ..
 The ignorant criticism made upon hl: action in the Turner case, has been care. ful to hide from sight the notorious fact that the evidence was wholly undisputed and the defence based on its truth. Ir such a state of the case, what the verdict should be. is ''one of law. on which it is the duty of the jury to receive the in structions of the court" If judges faltel at such times. when the rights of the weak and poor are at stake, there is nc longer justice in the land, and the courts are no more a refuge for the defenceless
 Chief Justice Marshall, when insinua
 tions were made upon his motives an'
 course of conduct in the great trial 0
 Burr. had this to say, and we commen
 1t to those who would have had Judg Jones finch his duty:
 S That this court dares not usurp powe Is most true. That this court dares no ,i shirk from its duty Is not less true. N man, is desirous of placing himself in
 disagreeable situation. No man is desir
 ous of becoming the peculiar subject O
 calumny. No man, might he let tn r bitter cup pass from him without self
 reproach, would drain 1t to the bottom
 But if he had no choice in the case,
 there be no alternative presented to hin
 but the dereliction of duty or the oppro
 brium of those denominated the world he merits the contempt as well as the in |, ldignation of his country who hesitate
 which to embrace.