4 Pa. Super. 142 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1897
Opinion by
In Hutchinson v. Commonwealth, 82 Pa. 472-478, Mr. Justice Panson, speaking of the effect of a demurrer to the evidence, said incidentally: “ It is true a jury are not only judges of the facts in a criminal case, but they are also judges of the
On appeal it was held that this was an accurate and carefully considered answer to the point; and was entirely in harmony with Kane v. Commonwealth. Said Chief Justice Paxson: “ It left the jury to decide the whole case upon the law and the evidence, — not upon the law as distinct from the evidence; and they were instructed as to what was the best evidence of the law. That is to say, in the language of the constitution, they were to determine ‘ the law and the facts, as in other cases,’ under the advice and direction of the court; they were to look to the court for the best evidence of the law, just as they look to the witnesses for the best evidence of the facts. Thus interpreted and thus administered, this seeming paradox in our criminal law becomes intelligible. A judge who instructs a jury, in a criminal case, that they may disregard the law as laid down by the court, errs as widely as the judge who gives them a binding instruction upon the law. It is the duty of the jury to take the best evidence of the law, as it is to take the best evidence of the facts. When they refuse to do either, they disregard their duty and their oaths.” Just how much of substance this interpretation leaves of the doctrine that the jury are the judges of the law as well as of the fact in criminal cases is a question we need not discuss; it is sufficient for present purposes, to say that whenever it is invoked it is to be applied subject to the explanation and qualification that the jury are bound by their oaths to decide the case on the law and the evidence, and that the statement of the law by the court is the best evidence
In disposing of the rule for new trial the learned trial judge very frankly conceded that he stated the law incorrectly when lie instructed the jury that they might disregard anything the
The second assignment is not sustained. The language does not necessarily require the construction which the defendant’s counsel put upon it; and construed in the light of other instructions the jury could not have understood the judge to mean that they were to voice public sentiment by their verdict.
The third assignment is without merit. The judge fairly left it to the jury to say whether the facts were as alleged by the commonwealth and whether they were corroborative.
The excerpt from the charge quoted in the fourth assignment,
The learned judge’s recital of the evidence relative to the defendant’s trip to Cleveland was a substantially correct statement of the material facts testified to. The inaccuracies, if so they may be called, were so slight and were in such immaterial particulars as not to prejudice the defendant. After a very thorough examination of the evidence it seems to us that the judge’s summary was about as fair and accurate a presentation of it as could have been made without reciting it at length. The fifth assignment does not require further notice and is overruled.
The seventh, eighth and ninth assignments relate to the omission of the court to call the jury’s attention to the testi
The tenth assignment relates to the remarks made by the court in the presence of the jury to the witness McDowell. But, as no exception was taken at the time, the assignment could not be considered even if it had merit, and is dismissed.
The eleventh- assignment raises a question as to the jurisdiction of the court of quarter sessions to try the indictment because it contained a count for receiving stolen goods knowing them to have been stolen. The same question was raised in Holmes v. Commonwealth, 25 Pa. 221, and again in Fulmer v. Commonwealth, 97 Pa. 503, and in both cases it was held that the quarter sessions had jurisdiction. The latter case was decided after the repeal of the Act of May 25, 1878, P. L. 147, by the Act of May 13, 1879, P. L. 54; therefore we need not now consider what effect, if any, that legislation had. The jurisdiction conferred on the quarter sessions by the act of 1860, as construed in Fulmer v. Commonwealth has not been taken away. The assignment is overruled.
This indictment was drawn under the 24th section of the Act of March 31, 1860, P. L. 436, which provides that “in every indictment for feloniously stealing property it shall be lawful to add a count for feloniously receiving the said property knowing it to have been stolen.” In the case of Com. v. Stahl, 1 Pa.
The judgment is reversed and a venire facias de novo is awarded.