The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1921-05-17
A CITIZENS
DUTY TO LAW

DUTY TO LAW
Judge E. s. Harrington delivered ,
charge to jury in the federal cour
at Carson City short time ago tina
is deserving of observance by all goo,
citizens of this nation. Coming as
does at time when the country Il
faced with the necessity of enforcing
a law concerning which there Is ,
great divergence of opinion. thu
charge Of Judge Harrington has
double force. The words of the court
spoken In a liquor law violation cas-,
recently before him, are taken from
the Carson News, which says:
The charge of Judge E. s. Earring
ton to the jury In the Freeman cast
was heard with great interest by al
persons who were In the court room
and was the subject of great deal
Of favorable comment. The judges
opening remarks, strikingly definitiye
of principles of good citizenship with
respect to the laws of the land, were
as follows:
Gentlemen, you have frequently
heard the expression, Ours is a gov
eminent of law, and not Of men, In
der the constitution, not only of the
United States but of the state, a
method has been provided for enact
ing law; and when a law Is enacted.
when q statute receives the proper
vote in the senate. in congress or in
the legislature, and Is approved and
signed by the executive In the man
ner provided in the constitution, 1t
becomes the law Of the land and as
such 1t is obligatory upon every citi-
zen.
I'VE are all bound to obey the law
We have no choice in the matter, ex-
cept the choice to violate the law
and to stifle our conscience, if we
see fit to disobey the statute. There
is no rule that you as jurors may re-
gard one law and disregard another,
as you choose. You can not say that
law which forbids the sale of whiskey,
or the manufacture of whiskey, or the
possession of whiskey or the posses
sion Of the appliances with which, and
materials out of which whiskey Is
made, is not of the same binding force
as the law which says You shall not
steal. They are both the law of the
land, and you and I as members OF
this court, under our oaths, are bound
to execute the law as 1t is written,
without any reference to whether the
law Is wise or not, or whether we
ourselves think the law is unwise. 1t
is the law. and under our oaths-
yours as well as mine-we must give
effect to that law as It is written.
THE question to be determined
here. regardless of whether the law
Is bad or whether the law is good,
the only question which is submitted
to you and to me and to this court,
is whether these four charges lodged
against this defendant are true or not
true. II the defendant has violated
the law, he is guilty, whether our
neighbors like the law or not; and il
he has not violated the law. he is in
nocent, no matter how many people
are in favor of the law. In determin-
ing that question you are to accept
the law as l give 1t to YOU. not be-
cause I wish to impose my will on
you. but simply because 1t Is the rule.
The law requires me to do 1t; and
the law requires you under your oaths
to follow the instructions as give
them. 1t is your duty, however, and
your exclusive duty. to determine
what is shown by the evidence, and
to determine how much credibility is
to be given to the testimony of each
of the witnesses. 1t is fmmaterial
whether l tell you what is proven or
not. 1t is within my province, If l
desire, to discuss this testimony. and
to give you my judgment as to what
1t shows: but it is yours to remember
that you are not controlled by any
thing I may say as to the facts, ex-
cept as 1t appeals to your judgment"
After he had reviewed evidence in
the Freeman case in detail Judge Far
rington concluded his charge with
saying:
Much has been said about the mo-
tives of the officers; and that also is
for you to consider. But l wish to
direct your attention to this fact. that
it is one Of the unfortunate incidents
Of our civilization that men do COM
init crimes; men violate the law. and
IL we had no officers, II there were no
one to apprehend criminals. II there
were no one to look after the enforce
ment of law, we would soon be in a
very unhappy condition. The mere