Court Opinion

ID: 9743026
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 21:24:17.160429+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:38.637693
License: Public Domain

*514Abrams, J.
(dissenting, with whom Liacos, J., joins). I respectfully dissent from the failure of the majority to grant a new trial in this case. The well established law in this Commonwealth is that the judge has a duty “to declare what the law is, with its exceptions and qualifications, to explain it, and to state the reasons and grounds of it,” in such a way that the law will be “clearly intelligible to the minds of men of good judgment and common experience, but without legal knowledge and skill.” Commonwealth v. Porter, 10 Met. 263, 283 (1846) (Shaw, C.J.)
Although the trial judge read the statute to the jury, in his conscientious attempt to distinguish § 17 (a) from § 2 (b) and § 3 (b), he appears to have adopted the position that only the receipt of money need be shown to justify a conviction under § 17 (a). Such a view is not in accord with the interpretation this court today places on § 17 (a).1 Nevertheless, the majority find that the jury instructions were adequate and that the jury were warranted in returning a guilty verdict. While I agree with the court’s construction of § 17 (a), and while, in my view, ample evidence exists on which a jury could convict Canon, I disagree with the majority’s disposition of this case. The majority assume without discussion that a jury would agree with them and would convict the defendant under today’s interpretation of § 17 (a). Even assuming this to be the fact, I think that basic fairness and a proper regard for the jury system require that we grant the defendant a new trial.
In the past we have held it fundamental that jurors be guided by clear and correct instructions on the applicable legal principles. Commonwealth v. Corcione, 364 Mass. *515611, 618 (1974). Commonwealth v. Kelley, 359 Mass. 77, 92 (1971). Commonwealth v. Rollins, 354 Mass. 630, 638 (1968). Commonwealth v. Carson, 349 Mass. 430, 435 (1965). Commonwealth v. Porter, supra at 283. See Commonwealth v. Benders, 361 Mass. 704 (1972). Instructions which are prejudicially erroneous or misleading on a crucial point of law have always required a new trial. Commonwealth v. Corcione, supra at 616-618. Commonwealth v. Benders, supra at 707-708. United States v. Brewster, 506 F.2d 62, 82-83 (D.C. Cir. 1974). Cf. Commonwealth v. Albert, 310 Mass. 811, 812 (1942). See Commonwealth v. Freeman, 352 Mass. 556 (1967). This result follows irrespective of the fact that ample evidence might exist to support the verdict on a correct theory of law. Jurors, not judges, decide the issue of guilt or innocence. See Commonwealth v. Corcione, supra at 617; Commonwealth v. Benders, supra at 707-708. Cf. Commonwealth v. Albert, supra at 820-821; Adamaitis v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 295 Mass. 215, 221 (1936).
There is no reason to depart from basic principles in this case. Indeed, fairness mandates otherwise. Canon should not be the only exception to a general rule. The trial, the arguments, and the instructions all suggested to the jury that only the receipt of money need be shown to justify a conviction under § 17 (a). The jurors were not given any specific guidance on the essential element of “services rendered or to be rendered.”
Moreover, under our legal system, the responsibility for stating and explaining the law is allocated to the judge, and the duty of deciding questions of fact and of applying the law to the facts is given to the jury. Commonwealth v. Abbott, 13 Met. 120, 124 (1847). Sparf & Hansen v. United States, 156 U.S. 51, 102, 106 (1895). Commonwealth v. Dickerson, 372 Mass. 783, 798, 800-802 (1977) (Quirico, J., concurring). This division of functions between the judge and the jury has long been recognized as an essential element in providing justice: “In this separation of the functions of court and jury is found the chief value, as well as safety, of the jury system. Those func-*516tians cannot be confounded or disregarded without endangering the stability of public justice, as well as the security of private and personal rights.” Sparf & Hansen v. United States, supra at 106. See Commonwealth v. Bellino, 320 Mass. 635, 639, cert, denied, 330 U.S. 832 (1947). The failure to grant Canon a new trial blurs the distinction between these functions.
Finally, the jury system provides the most important means by which laymen can participate in and understand the legal system. “It makes them feel that they owe duties to society, and that they have a share in its govern-ment____The jury system has for some hundreds of years been constantly bringing the rules of law to the touchstone of contemporary common sense” (emphasis supplied) . 1 W. Holdsworth, A History of English Law 348-349 (3d ed. 1922).
I dissent from the majority’s disposition of this case since it appears to me to be but the first step in diminishing the extent of citizen participation in the administration of justice and the many benefits which flow from such participation.
For these reasons, where, as here, there is a material disparity between our interpretation of a statute and that given the statute at trial, a new trial is mandated. “[W]e have no authority to take upon ourselves the duties of a tribunal of fact, and to determine what verdicts should have been rendered by the jury____Convenient and helpful as it might be to the litigants to have these cases finally decided without further litigation, we must decline to act extrajudicially in a matter that comes before us sitting as a court.” Electric Welding Co. v. Prince, 200 Mass. 386, 392 (1909).

 Although the defendant did not take a specific exception to the instructions, after the charge he did except to the denial of his request for instructions. The judge’s construction of the statute was in issue throughout the trial, and the defendant’s exception thereto is, in my view, sufficient to preserve the issue of the adequacy of the instructions for review on appeal. See Commonwealth v. Crosscup, 369 Mass. 228, 241 (1975); M. DeMatteo Constr. Co. v. Commonwealth, 338 Mass. 568, 587-589. (1959).