Opinion ID: 1474108
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 20

Heading: The Discussion of the Legislative History.

Text: Defendant complains of the Court's discussion of the legislative history of the Act in its charge to the jury. As a rule, a court does not discuss before a jury the legislative history from which it draws material for its interpretation of a statute. Such thinking out loud is likely to be misunderstood by a jury whose contact with the law is casual. In this case, the discussion of the forming of a special Congressional committee, the paraphrasing of that committee's report, the statements that the Act was intended to carry out the objectives suggested in the report, may have been an orientation course for the jury. This orientation may have enabled the jury better to see this case, their part in it, and may have given them a sense of perspective on modern history. We conclude that the discussion of the legislative history was not prejudicial or reversible error. After this background discussion, the Court charged as a matter of law what the law was. The law so laid down was substantially in accord with what we have already said was the intent and proper construction of the Statute. The important thing is that the Court did not pass any of its functions to the jury. With the Court eventually declaring, in positive terms, the law, the jury were not misled, nor were they called upon to interpret the law, to attribute the degree of significance that should be given any part or all of the legislative history.