Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/195/65/case.html
Timestamp: 2016-07-25 22:03:29
Document Index: 21791203

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 41', '§ 19', '§ 4', '§ 6', '§ 7', '§ 15', '§ 2740', '§ 4350', 'art, 89', 'art, 89', '§ 759']

Schick v. United States :: 195 U.S. 65 (1904) :: Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center Log In
› Schick v. United States
Schick v. United States 195 U.S. 65 (1904)
U.S. Supreme CourtSchick v. United States, 195 U.S. 65 (1904)Schick v. United StatesNos. 222-223Argued December 2, 1903Decided May 31, 1904195 U.S. 65ERROR TO THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED
The facts are stated in the opinion of the Court. Page 195 U. S. 66
The constitutionality of the oleomargarine legislation having Page 195 U. S. 67 been settled in McCray v. United States, just decided, there is in these two cases only a single question. The plaintiffs in error were severally prosecuted by information in the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of Illinois, under section 11 of the Act of August 2, 1886, 24 Stat. 209, which reads:
We entertain no doubt that the parties could rightfully make such a waiver, and that the judgments are in no way invalidated thereby. It will be noticed that the section characterizes the act prohibited as an offense, and subjects the party to a penalty of fifty dollars. So small a penalty for violating a revenue statute indicates only a petty offense. It is not one necessarily involving any moral delinquency. The violation may have been the result of ignorance or thoughtlessness, and must be classed with such illegal acts as acting as an auctioneer or peddler without a license, or making a deed without affixing the proper stamp. That by other sections of this statute more serious offenses are described, and more grave punishments provided, does not lift this one to the Page 195 U. S. 68 dignity of a crime. Not infrequently, a single statute in its several sections provides for offenses of different grades, subject to different punishments and to prosecution in different ways. In some states, in the same act are gathered all the various offenses against the person, ranging from simple assault to murder, and imposing punishments, from a mere fine to death. This very statute furnishes an illustration. By one clause, the knowingly selling of adulterated butter in any other than the prescribed form subjects the party convicted thereof to a fine of not more than $1,000 and imprisonment for not more than two years. An officer of customs violating certain provisions of the act is declared guilty of a misdemeanor, and subject to a fine of not less than one thousand dollars nor more than five thousand dollars and imprisonment for not less than six months nor more than three years. Obviously, these violations of certain provisions of the statute must be classed among serious criminal offenses, and can be prosecuted only by indictment, while the violations of the statute in the cases before us were prosecuted by information. The truth is, the nature of the offense and the amount of punishment prescribed, rather than its place in the statutes, determine whether it is to be classed among serious or petty offenses -- whether among crimes or misdemeanors. Clearly both indicate that this particular violation of the statute is only a petty offense.
If there be any conflict between these two provisions, the one found in the Amendments must control, under the well understood rule that the last expression of the will of the lawmaker prevails over an earlier Page 195 U. S. 69 one. But that in the body of the Constitution does not include a petty offense like the present. It must be read in the light of the common law. "That," said Mr. Justice Bradley in Moore v. United States, 91 U. S. 270, 91 U. S. 274, referring to the common law,
"A crime or misdemeanor, is an act committed or omitted in violation of a public law either forbidding or commanding it. This general definition comprehends both crimes and misdemeanors, which, properly speaking, are mere synonymous terms, though in common usage the word 'crimes' is made to denote such offenses as are of a deeper and more atrocious Page 195 U. S. 70 dye; while smaller faults and omissions of less consequence are comprised under the gentler name of 'misdemeanors' only."
There is no act of Congress requiring that Page 195 U. S. 71 the trial of all offenses shall be by jury, and a court is fully organized and competent for the transaction of business without the presence of a jury. There is no public policy which forbids the waiver of a jury in the trial of petty offenses. On the contrary, by section 44 of the Code of Law for the District of Columbia, Congress provided, in respect to the police court, that --
But if there be no constitutional or statutory provision or public policy requiring a jury in the trial of petty offenses, upon what ground can it be contended that a defendant therein may not voluntarily waive a jury? Can it be that a defendant can plead guilty of the most serious, even a capital, offense, and thus dispense with all inquiry by a jury, and cannot, when informed against for a petty offense, waive a trial by jury? Article VI of the Amendments, as we have seen, gives the accused a right to a trial by jury. But the same article gives Page 195 U. S. 72 him the further right "to be confronted with the witnesses against him . . . and to have the assistance of counsel." Is it possible that an accused cannot admit, and be bound by the admission, that a witness not present would testify to certain facts? Can it be that, if he does not wish the assistance of counsel, and waives it, the trial is invalid? It seems only necessary to ask these questions to answer them. When there is no constitutional or statutory mandate, and no public policy prohibiting, an accused may waive any privilege which he is given the right to enjoy. Authorities in the state courts are in harmony with this thought. In Commonwealth v. Dailey, 12 Cush. 80, the defendant in a misdemeanor case waived his right to a full panel and consented to be tried by eleven jurors, and this action was sustained by the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. Chief Justice Shaw, delivering the opinion of the court, said (p. 83): "He may waive any matter of form or substance, excepting only what may relate to the jurisdiction of the court." The same doctrine was laid down in Murphy v. Commonwealth, 1 Met. 365; Tyra v. Commonwealth, 2 Met. 1, and in State v. Kaufman, 51 Ia 578. In Connelly v. State, 60 Ala. 89, a statute authorizing the waiver of a jury was sustained. The same rule was made in State v. Worden, 46 Conn. 349, which was a case of a felony. See also People v. Rathbun, 21 Wend. 509, 542.
These are criminal prosecutions based on the act of Congress Page 195 U. S. 73 of August 2, 1886, entitled "An Act Defining Butter, Also Imposing a Tax Upon and Regulating the Manufacture, Sale, Importation, and Exportation of Oleomargarine," supplemented by the Act of October 1, 1890, and amended by the Act of May 9, 1902. 24 Stat. 209, c. 840; 26 Stat. 621, c. 1244, § 41, 32 Stat. 193, c. 784.
In each case, the motion was overruled, the defendant excepting. Motions for a new trial and in arrest of judgment having been severally overruled, the court, no jury having been impaneled, found the defendant in each case guilty and adjudged that he pay a fine of $50 and costs, and that execution issue therefor. From those judgments the present writs of error were prosecuted. Page 195 U. S. 74
I. That this is a criminal prosecution, and that the mode of procedure must be determined by the established rules governing the conduct of trials in criminal cases, is, in my judgment, not to be doubted. The record itself describes the information as a criminal information, and the case was tried as if it were a criminal prosecution. It never occurred to the trial court that it was a prosecution of any other kind. It is true that the act provides that all fines, penalties, and forfeitures imposed by it may be recovered in any court of competent jurisdiction. § 19. But it is evident from the entire act that it makes all the violations of the provisions imposing a fine, or fine and imprisonment, or fine or imprisonment, criminal offenses, to be punished in such mode as was appropriate or allowable by the law of criminal procedure. Throughout the act, when a fine is imposed, the doing of the thing forbidden is described as an "offense." If a person carries on the business of a manufacturer of oleomargarine without having paid the special tax, he is subject, besides being liable to pay the special tax, to be fined not less than $1,000 and not more than $5,000; if he carries on the business of a wholesale dealer in oleomargarine without having paid the special tax therefor, he is subject, besides being liable for the special tax, to be fined not less than $500 nor more than $2,000, and if he carries on the business of a retail dealer in oleomargarine without having paid the special tax, he may be fined not less than $50 nor more than $500 for each and every Page 195 U. S. 75 offense. § 4. Every person who knowingly sells or offers for sale, or delivers or offers to deliver, any oleomargarine in any other form than in new wooden or paper packages, as described, or who packs in any package any oleomargarine in a manner contrary to law, or who falsely brands any package or affixes any stamp on any package denoting a less amount of tax than that required by law, "may be fined for each offense not more than $1,000, and be imprisoned not more than two years." § 6. Every manufacturer of oleomargarine who neglects to affix the required label to a package containing oleomargarine made by him, or sold or offered for sale by or for him, and every person who removes any label so affixed may be "fined $50 for each package in respect to which such offense is committed." § 7. Every officer of customs who permits imported oleomargarine
§ 15. Whenever any person engaged in carrying on the business of manufacturing oleomargarine defrauds or attempts to defraud Page 195 U. S. 76 the United States of the tax on oleomargarine produced by him, or any part thereof, he forfeits the factory and manufacturing apparatus used by him and all oleomargarine and all raw material for the production of oleomargarine found in the factory and on the factory premises, and
United States v. Reisinger, 128 U. S. 398, 128 U. S. 402. So, in Huntington v. Attrill, 146 U. S. 657, 146 U. S. 667, after referring to the maxim of international law in The Antelope, 10 Wheat. 66, 23 U. S. 123, that "the courts of no country execute the penal laws of another," and observing Page 195 U. S. 77 that there was great danger, when interpreting that maxim, of being misled by the different shades of meaning allowed to the word "penal" in our language, this Court said:
II. So far, it has been my object only to show that the offense charged was a crime against the United States. I now inquire as to the mode in which it may be legally ascertained whether an accused, pleading not guilty, has committed the Page 195 U. S. 78 crime charged against him? Has the law designated any particular tribunal, or prescribed any special mode, for trying the issue as to his guilt? The words of the Constitution upon this subject are clear and explicit. They leave no room for interpretation. Its express mandate is that "the trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury." Const. Art. III. When the Constitution was placed before the people for adoption or rejection, many deemed those words, explicit as they were, inadequate to secure all the benefits of a jury trial as it existed at common law.
It is suggested that, if any conflict exists between the absolute requirement in the original Constitution (Art. III, section 2), that the "trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury," and the provision in the Sixth Amendment that the accused, in every criminal prosecution, "shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury," etc., the latter, having been last adopted, must control. But there is no such conflict. Those who opposed the acceptance of the Constitution said, among other things, that the words of that instrument, strictly construed (Art. III, section 2), admitted of a secret trial, or of one that might be indefinitely postponed to suit the purposes of the government, or of one taking place in a state or district other than that in which the crime was committed. The framers of the Constitution disclaimed any such evil purposes; but in order to meet the objections of its opponents, and to remove all possible ground of uneasiness on the subject, the Sixth Amendment was adopted, in which the essential features of the trial required by section 2 of Article III are set forth. In other words, the trial required by that section is the trial referred to in the Sixth Amendment. And the jury referred to in both the original Constitution and in the Amendments was, the authorities all agree, the historical jury of the common law, consisting of twelve persons, no more and no less, whose unanimous verdict was necessary to conviction. Thompson v. Utah, 170 U. S. 343, 170 U. S. 349; 2 Hale's P.C. 161; 1 Chitty Crim.Law Page 195 U. S. 79 505; 2 Blackstone 719; Coke, Elizabeth 654. Mr. Justice Story said:
Murray's Lessee v. Hoboken Land Co., 18 How. 272, 59 U. S. 277. So, in ascertaining whether, under any circumstances, a criminal case may be tried in a federal court Page 195 U. S. 80 without a jury -- the accused pleading not guilty -- we must inquire whether the Constitution forbids such an exercise of authority by the court, without a jury. If it does, that is the end of the matter; if it does not, then, and then only, may we look to such usages and modes of proceeding as existed at the common law for the trial of crimes before the adoption of the Constitution.
"Except in that class or grade of offenses called petty offenses, which, according to the common law, may be proceeded against summarily in any tribunal legally constituted for that purpose, the guaranty of an impartial jury to the accused in a criminal prosecution, conducted either in the name or by or under the authority of the United States, secures to him the right to enjoy that mode of trial from the first moment, and in whatever Page 195 U. S. 81 court, he is put on trial for the offense charged. In such cases, a judgment of conviction, not based upon a verdict of guilty by a jury, is void."
In this connection, we are confronted with the broad statement, found in some adjudged cases as well as in elementary treatises, to the effect that a person is entitled to waive any constitutional right, of whatever nature, that he possesses, and thereby preclude himself from invoking the authority of the Constitution for the protection or enforcement of that right. It is suggested that, even when charged with murder, he may plead guilty, and that the court thereupon, without the intervention of a jury, may pronounce such judgment as the law permits or authorizes. And it is confidently asked by those who make that suggestion, why may not one charged with a misdemeanor, and pleading not guilty, waive a jury altogether and consent to be tried by the court? This argument will not stand the test of reason. It proceeds upon the ground that jurisdiction to try a criminal case may be given by consent of the accused and the prosecutor. But such consent could have no legal efficacy. Undoubtedly one accused of Page 195 U. S. 82 murder may plead guilty. But, in doing so, he renders a trial unnecessary. The Constitution does not prohibit an accused from pleading guilty. His right to do so was recognized long before the adoption of that instrument, and it was never supposed that such a plea impaired the force of the requirement that a trial for crime, under a plea of not guilty, shall be by jury. It is not to be assumed that the Constitution intended, when preserving the right of trial by jury, to change any essential rule of criminal practice established at the common law before the adoption of that instrument. When the accused pleads guilty before a lawful tribunal, he admits every material fact well averred in the indictment or information, and there is no issue to be tried; no facts are to be found; no trial occurs. After such a plea, nothing remains to be done except that the court shall pronounce judgment upon the facts voluntarily confessed by the accused. What the Constitution requires is that the trial of a crime shall be by jury. If the accused pleads not guilty, there must, of necessity, be a trial, for by that plea, he puts "himself on his country, which country the jury are;" he contests, by that plea, every fact necessary to establish his guilt; he is presumed to be innocent; nothing is confessed, and the facts necessary to show guilt must be judicially ascertained, in the mode prescribed by law, before any judgment can be rendered. But the vital inquiry is in what way, when the defendant pleads not guilty, are the facts to be ascertained, and the plea of not guilty overcome? Under the express words of the Constitution, the answer must be: by trial before a jury of twelve persons, organized to determine whether the charge of guilt be true, the function of the court being simply to conduct the trial, and render a judgment in accordance with the verdict of the jury as to the facts. The court and the jury, not separately, but together, constitute the appointed tribunal which alone, under the law, can try the question of crime, the commission of which by the accused is put in issue by a plea of not guilty.
There are some things so vital in their character that they Page 195 U. S. 83 may not be legally done or legally omitted in a criminal prosecution, even with the consent of the accused. This is abundantly established by authority. The grounds upon which the decisions rest are, upon principle, applicable alike in cases of felonies and misdemeanors, although the consequences to the accused may be more evident as well as more serious in the former than in the latter cases. Certain it is that felonies and misdemeanors are equally crimes within the meaning of the constitutional provision that the trial of all crimes shall be by jury, and there is no warrant to construe that provision as if it read, "the trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment and in misdemeanors, shall be by jury."
"We are of opinion that it was not within the power of the accused or his counsel to dispense with the statutory requirement as to his personal presence at the trial. Page 195 U. S. 84 The argument to the contrary necessarily proceeds upon the ground that he alone is concerned as to the mode by which he may be deprived of his life or liberty, and that the chief object of the prosecution is to punish him for the crime charged. But this is a mistaken view as well of the relations which the accused holds to the public as of the end of human punishment. The natural life, says Blackstone,"
"If one under trial for a felony Page 195 U. S. 85 the punishment of which is confinement in a penitentiary could not legally consent that the trial proceed in his absence, still less could he assent to be deprived of his liberty by a tribunal not authorized by law to determine his guilt."
"These considerations make it apparent that the right of a defendant in a criminal prosecution to affect, by consent, the conduct of the case should be much more limited than in civil actions. It should not be permitted to extend so far as to work radical changes in great and leading provisions as to the organization of the tribunals or the mode of proceeding prescribed by the Constitution and the laws. Effect may justly and safely be given to such consent in many particulars, and the law does, in respect to various matters, regard and act upon it as valid. Objections to jurors may be waived; the court may be substituted for triers to dispose of challenges to jurors; secondary in place of primary evidence may be received; admissions of facts are allowed, and in similar particulars, as well as in relation to mere formal proceedings generally, consent will render valid what without it would be erroneous. A plea of guilty to any indictment, whatever may be the grade of the crime, will be received and acted upon if it is made clearly to appear that the nature and effect of it are understood by the accused. In such a case, the preliminary investigation of a grand jury, with the admission of the accusation in the indictment, is supposed Page 195 U. S. 86 to be a sufficient safeguard to the public interests. But when issue is joined upon an indictment, the trial must be by the tribunal and in the mode which the Constitution and laws provide, without any essential change. The public officer prosecuting for the people has no authority to consent to such a change, nor has the defendant. Applying the above reasoning to the present case, the conclusion necessarily follows that the consent of the plaintiff in error to the withdrawal of one juror, and that the remaining eleven might render a verdict, could not lawfully be recognized by the court at the circuit, and was a nullity. If a deficiency of one juror might be waived, there appears to be no good reason why a deficiency of eleven might not be, and it is difficult to say why, upon the same principle, the entire panel might not be dispensed with, and the trial committed to the court alone. It would be a highly dangerous innovation, in reference to criminal cases, upon the ancient and invaluable institution of trial by jury, and the Constitution and laws establishing and securing that mode of trial, for the court to allow of any number short of a full panel of twelve jurors, and we think it ought not to be tolerated."
Upon the general question whether the consent or silence of the defendant can excuse the failure of the court at the trial to enforce such essential rules as are prescribed by law for the trial of criminal cases, the case of Hill v. People, 16 Mich. 351, 356-358, is instructive. That was a case of murder. The defendant was found guilty, and after the trial it was discovered that one of the jurors was disqualified under the statutes of Michigan. But that fact was unknown to the accused and his counsel until after the rendition of the verdict. It was contended by the state that, by neglecting to challenge that juror, the accused lost the right to avail himself of the objection, and was to be deemed to have thereby waived all objections to the juror or to a trial by eleven qualified jurors. It should be here observed that the Constitution of Michigan preserved the Page 195 U. S. 87 right, in all criminal prosecutions, to "a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury, which may consist of less than twelve men in all courts not of record." Looking at the case as one in which the trial had been by eleven competent jurors only, the court considered the general question of waiver as applicable to criminal cases. Speaking by Judge Christiancy, and observing that, under the state constitution, there could be no reasonable doubt of the competency of parties in civil cases to waive such an objection or to stipulate for a trial by jury of less than twelve, the court said:
The court added some general observations which may well Page 195 U. S. 88 be heeded by everyone charged with the administration of the criminal laws. It said:
"In our Code of Civil Practice, it is provided that 'issues of fact in an action in an ordinary proceeding must be tried by a jury, unless the the same is waived.' § 2740. In our Code of Criminal Procedure, there is no provision for the waiver of a jury. On the other hand, it is provided that 'an issue of fact must be tried by a jury of the county in which the indictment is found, unless a change of venue has been awarded.' § 4350. We regard this provision as excluding the jurisdiction of the court, without a jury, to try such issue. The question presented is not as to the waiver of Page 195 U. S. 89 mere statutory privilege, but an imperative provision, based, as we view it, upon the soundest conception of public policy. Life and liberty are too sacred to be placed at the disposal of any one man, and always will be, so long as man is fallible. The innocent person, unduly influenced by his consciousness of innocence and placing undue confidence in his evidence, would, when charged with crime, be the one most easily induced to waive his safeguards. There is no resemblance between such a case and that of a person pleading guilty. In the latter case, there is no trial, but mere judgment upon the plea. If the language of the statute were less imperative than it is, the adjudications would support us in reaching the same conclusion."
"Another good and sufficient reason, it occurs to us, is, that the prisoner's consent cannot change the law. His right to be tried by a jury of twelve men is not a mere privilege; it is a positive requirement of the law. He can unquestionably waive many of his legal rights or privileges. He may agree to certain facts, and dispense with formal proofs; he may consent to the introduction of evidence not strictly legal, or forbear to interpose challenges to the jurors; but he has no power to consent to the creation of a new tribunal unknown to the law, to try his offense. The law, in its wisdom, has declared what shall be a legal jury in the trial of criminal cases; that it shall be composed of twelve, and a defendant, Page 195 U. S. 90 when he is upon trial, cannot be permitted to change the law and substitute another and a different tribunal to pass upon his guilt or innocence. The law as to criminal trials should be based upon fixed standards, and should be clear, definite, and uniform, and absolute. If one juror can be withdrawn, there is no reason why six or eight may not be, and thus the accused, through persuasion or other causes, may have his life put in jeopardy or be deprived of his liberty through a body constituted in a manner unknown to the law. Aside from the illegality of such a procedure, public policy condemns it. The prisoner is not in a condition to exercise a free and independent choice without often creating prejudice against him."
A leading case upon the subject of trial by jury is that of Page 195 U. S. 91 Work v. Ohio, 2 Ohio St. 296, 302, 305. That was an information charging the defendant with assault and battery. The trial took place under an act of the Ohio Legislature which permitted a trial in such a case by a jury of six men notwithstanding the Constitution of Ohio provided that the right of trial by jury should be inviolate. The defendant pleaded not guilty, but was found guilty, and sentenced to pay a fine of $100 and costs. In discussing the history of trial by jury, the court, speaking by Judge Ranney, said:
"In what does the privilege of this great bulwark of personal liberty consist? The Constitution furnishes no answer, nor was it necessary that it should. If ages of uninterrupted use can give significance to language, the right of jury trial and the habeas corpus stand as representatives of ideas as certain and definite as any other in the whole range of legal learning. The institution of the jury, referred to in our Constitution, and its benefits secured to every person accused of crime, is precisely the same in every substantial respect, as that recognized in the great charter, and its benefits secured to the freemen of England, and again and again acknowledged in fundamental compacts as the great safeguard of life, liberty, and property; the same, brought to this continent by our forefathers, and perseveringly claimed as their birthright in every contest with arbitrary power, and finally, an invasion of its privileges prominently assigned as one of the causes which was to justify them in the eyes of mankind in waging the contest which resulted in independence. . . . We are of opinion it was this very tribunal, thus constituted, that those who framed and adopted the Constitution of this state intended to perpetuate, and make the safeguard of innocence, by securing its benefits to every person accused of crime, in any of its courts. There is certainly nothing in our history which points to a different conclusion. For half a century before its adoption, similar provisions had been so considered and acted upon. Until the passage of this law, no person had ever been convicted of crime, by less than the Page 195 U. S. 92 concurring assent of twelve of his peers, and no law has ever attempted to authorize it to be done. If the power exists to diminish the number of the jury, it may be applied to all cases, and it may be reduced to two as well as to six. The same constitutional provision that secures the right in a charge involving the life of the accused secures it also in every other criminal case. It is no answer to say that this would not likely be done. If it had been deemed safe to leave it to the discretion of the general assembly, no constitutional provision was needed; but, whether needed or not, it has been ordained by a power which both the general assembly and this Court are bound to obey."
In United States v. Taylor, 11 F. 470, which was a criminal prosecution by information for the offense of carrying on the business of a retail dealer in liquors without having paid the special taxes required by law, the main question was as to the authority of the court to direct a verdict of guilty under the evidence. It was held by Judge McCrary that no such power existed in the court. In the course of his opinion, he said that the constitutional guaranty of a jury in a criminal case was a right that could not be waived, and that such a trial before the court, by the prisoner's consent, was erroneous. It appears from the report of that case that Mr. Page 195 U. S. 93 Justice Miller was consulted by Judge McCrary, and concurred in the latter's views.
A case directly in point is that of State v. Stewart, 89 N.C. 563, 564. That was an indictment for an assault and battery. Page 195 U. S. 94 The defendant pleaded not guilty. A jury trial was waived, the court found the facts, and adjudged the accused guilty. The judgment was arrested and the state appealed. The Supreme Court of North Carolina said:
"There was not the remotest purpose in this case, we are sure, to infringe the right of trial by jury in a criminal action, but, for convenience sake and to save time (because the facts were not disputed), the facts of the case were agreed upon by the state and the defendant, and submitted to the judge, instead of letting a jury hear the evidence, and render a verdict upon the issue or find a special verdict. In our judgment, this was not only irregular, but wholly without the sanction of law. There is no statute that authorizes such procedure, and the Constitution forbids it. 'No person shall be convicted of any crime but by the unanimous verdict of a jury of good and lawful men, in open court.' No jury was impaneled to try the issue; there was no verdict of a jury; there was no conviction. The judgment of the court had nothing to warrant it, and there was nothing upon Page 195 U. S. 95 which it could properly rest. The defendant could not consent to a conviction by the court. It had no authority to try the issue of fact raised by the pleadings. The defendant did not plead guilty; he did not enter the plea of nolo contendere, or submit; he pleaded autrefois convict, and a jury must try the issue raised by that plea. State v. Stewart, 89 N.C. 563; State v. Moss, 2 Jones 66; 1 Bishop, Cri.Pl. § 759, and cases there cited; Cancemi v. People, 18 N.Y. 128. The legislature has not provided a means for the trial of cases like this different from the ordinary method provided by law. The court erred in passing upon the facts agreed upon and submitted to it without the finding of a jury, and for such error the judgment must be reversed and the court proceed to dispose of the case according to law."
Bk. 4, c. 27, *350. Now all will agree that when the crime charged is a felony, a trial in a circuit or district court of the United States, even with the consent of the accused, without a jury composed of twelve persons would be unauthorized and unavailing for any legal purpose. Why? Because, and only because, the law, the supreme law of the land, has declared that the trial of all crimes shall be by jury. And perhaps all will agree that the constitutional injunction applies with like force to such misdemeanors as by statute are punishable with imprisonment, and that a circuit or district court of the United States is without jurisdiction, under a plea of not guilty, no jury being impaneled, to try any crime against the United States involving life or liberty. The consent of the accused in such a case certainly cannot confer upon the court Page 195 U. S. 96 authority to try the crime in a mode inconsistent with the one prescribed by the law.
Undoubtedly, as already indicated, there were petty or minor crimes which at common law could be tried without a jury, and it may be assumed for the purposes of this case that the constitutional provision that all crimes except impeachment Page 195 U. S. 97 shall be tried by jury is to be interpreted in the light of that fact. But it may be repeated that the trial even of such cases without a jury was contrary to the genius of the common law, and was allowed by the courts only in obedience to acts of Parliament, which was not bound by a written constitution, and whose authority in matters of legislation was omnipotent, and therefore not to be disputed by any English court. An enumeration of all crimes against the United States which may be reasonably declared to belong to the class known at the common law as petty offenses, punishable under legislative sanction without the intervention of a jury, need not here be attempted. Nor is it necessary to express any final judgment upon the question whether the particular crime here involved might, by statute, be placed in that class and tried without a jury. It is enough to say that, even if Congress could place it in that class, and authorize its trial by summary proceedings, without a jury, or with a jury of less than twelve, it has not done so. The case therefore is controlled by the express constitutional injunction that all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be tried by a jury. The agreement of the accused and the prosecutor cannot confer jurisdiction, much less have the effect to displace the mode of trial established by the fundamental law, and substitute for it one inconsistent with the principles of the common law, as unmodified by any valid statute.
It is said that the nature of the offense and the amount of punishment prescribed must determine whether it is to be classed among serious or petty offenses. This, I take it, means that it is for the court, in the exercise of its inherent powers, to determine whether the offense is a serious one, to be tried alone by a jury, or a petty one, which may be tried without a jury. But the judiciary had no such function at common law. No court at common law assumed, without a jury, to try any offense, however trivial or petty, except under the authority of a statute conferring authority to that end. If the offense is punishable only by a fine of fifty dollars, Page 195 U. S. 98 as is the case here -- is it to be deemed a petty offense? And yet is one punishable by a fine of $500 to be deemed a serious one? Must there not be some fixed rule or limit on the subject? In my judgment, the Constitution establishes a rule which must be respected by every branch of the government. Yet, under the principles now announced, an offense punishable by a fine of five or ten thousand dollars may be regarded, if the court so wills, as a petty offense, triable without a jury. I cannot understand where the judiciary derives its authority to prescribe any rule on the subject, in face of the absolute constitutional requirement that all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be tried by a jury, and in face of the further significant fact that no court at common law ever assumed to regard any crime, however trivial, as triable without a jury except under express legislative sanction.
Again, it is said that in the original draft of the Constitution the words were "the trial of all criminal offenses . . . shall be by jury," and that these words were changed in the Convention so as to read "the trial of all crimes." Strangely enough, it is supposed that this change of words justifies the conclusion that the framers of the Constitution intended to dispense with a jury in such criminal offenses as the courts, uncontrolled by statute, deemed petty, as contrasted with those that they deemed serious. To say that "crimes" means something different from "criminal offenses" is something that I cannot comprehend. A crime is a criminal offense and a criminal offense is a crime. But the contention of the prosecution, even if sound, does not answer the suggestion that, at common law, it was never the province of a court, by any inherent power it possessed, to prescribe what criminal offenses or crimes were triable, and what need not be tried, by jury. My point is that no criminal offense or crime against the United States can be tried except by jury, if the plea be not guilty, unless it be a petty offense or crime, and unless the legislative department declares that it may be so Page 195 U. S. 99 tried. If the offense or crime be, in reality, in its essence, a petty one, then Congress may authorize it to be tried without a jury. But Congress has not so declared in respect of the offense or crime charged against the present defendant. The trial by jury is not one of form, but of the very substance of the mode prescribed for the trial of crimes. It may not be waived merely by the consent of the accused and the prosecutor. In the present case, the court, as I think, entrenches upon the domain of the legislative department of the government. It assumes without authority to prescribe a rule of criminal procedure which Congress has not, in its wisdom, undertaken to prescribe. It has made, not declared, law. There is no tendency, in these latter days, more dangerous than the assumption by one department of the government of powers that belong to another department.
I insist that, as the offense charged in each of these cases Page 195 U. S. 100 was a crime against the United States; as the Constitution expressly declares, without qualification, that the trial of all crimes, except impeachment, shall be by jury; as Congress has not assumed to declare that this case and like ones may be tried without a jury, the parties assenting, and as the trial of these cases by the court alone, without a jury, has no other sanction than the consent of the accused and the district attorney, the judgment in each case should be reversed, and each case remanded with directions to set aside the judgment, grant a new trial, and take such further proceedings as may be in conformity with law.