75 Tenn. 538 | Tenn. | 1881
delivered the opinion of the court.
The defendant has been indicted in the circuit court of Hawkins county for the murder of Charles W. Brown. He was sentenced to be hanged, and has-appealed in error to- this court.
We need not give a detailed statement of the facts connected • with the killing in this opinion, as the case must turn upon, the correctness of the charge of his Honor, and if erroneous in any material point affecting injuriously the prisoner, then a reversal must follow, independent of what might be our conclusions as-to the guilt or innocence of the accused. It suffices to say, that the case is made out by circumstantial testimony, no one having seen the act, nor is the defendant shown, by any one who saw him, to have been on the premises on the night of the killing. Another man, named Heck, was killed with Brown, while lying on a bed before the fire in a room in a house known as Marble Hall, about four miles from Rogersville, the county seat.
The main circumstances on which the guilt of the prisoner were sought to be established, are, that Brown had money, known to defendant; that he had stayed at the house for several successive nights before the killing, having been employed as a laborer, and was familiar with the premises, and when arrested was found to have a pocket-book, pretty well identified as Brown’s, on his person, with $253 of money in it— an amount fairly corresponding with what Brown is
It has been argued that the statements made by the defendant should have been excluded, on the ground that they were not freely and voluntarily made; but we do not think it necessary to discuss this question, further than to say, there is nothing shown in this record to affect them on this score.
His Honor gave the rules of law correctly as to the weight to be attached to confessions as such, with all the qualifications laid down in our law, both favorable and unfavorable to a prisoner.
After telling the jury of the innate weakness of testimony pxxrporting to detail what a party should have said, arising from liability to mistake in understanding, or failure in remembering all that was said, he then said to them, in substance, that, notwithstanding all this, when such confessions were proven clearly, and made free from the influence of hope or fear, they are generally received as among the most effectual proofs in the law.
This is all well. He then proceeds to tell them that the confessions of a prisoner must all be taken together; but if his statements are irreconcilable, or
We but say here, that while there is in this (as we have said) a failure accurately to discriminate between a confession and a statement made attempting to explain implicatory facts appearing against him, it is not seen that there is any. material error affecting the prisoner in the principles stated, and ' the proper mode of dealing with them by the jury, as applicable to the actual facts of the case. The State had proven the implicatory facts against him, and it was but fair, though not required of the State perhaps, that any explanation given by the prisoner serving to mitigate their wéight, break their force, or even exculpate him entirely, should be heard for what it was worth. The prisoner, however, could not ask that such explanation when proven should be taken as true, but only that it should be fairly weighed in connection with the other testimony in the case, and its legitimate effect be had, as the jury might deem it entitled to. This was substantially what his Honor’s charge amounted to, and of this there can be no complaint. We refer to it, however, at present to show that the effect of this explanation was a fact, and one of some importance, left to the consideration of the jury by his Honor, and one that fairly entered into the case as an element affecting the conclusion to be reached as
We now proceed to examine what we deem the most vital question in the case. It is the question so distinctly stated by his Honor in his charge as to the right of the jury to judge of the law as well as the facts of the case.
After telling the jury they were the sole judges of the credibility of witnesses and of the weight of their evidence, and must determine from the evidence whether the defendant is guilty or not, he then adds: “ The jury are also judges of the law. Should you conclude that the court has not given you the law correctly, and should you conclude you know the law is otherwise than as given you by the court, then you may pass upon the law in this case as you may know it.”
This last, taken in connection with the previous statement — that the jury were the judges of the facts, and were to determine from these the guilt or innocence of the prisoner — can only mean, that the jury, under the qualifications suggested, if such they may be termed, that is, if they conclude the court has not given them the law correctly, or should conclude they know the law is otherwise than as given by the court, then they may pass upon the law, that is, judge as to what the law is, and act on it as they may assume- or conclude they know it to be. The word judge, in reference to the facts, is certainly used in the same sense when used in reference to the right of the jury to pass upon the law of the case, and
His Honor — who is shown, by his charges repeatedly before us, to be an excellent and efficient judge— is not intended to be criticised in any spirit of blame for what we must hold to be the errors involved in the above propositions. It must be conceded that the language of several opinions heretofore delivered by able judges of this court seem well to sustain, at any rate to lead to the conclusion that the rule announced was substantially correct. "We assume such expressions were inadvertently uttered; but, be that as it may, we cannot assent tn their correctness, and proceed to give our reasons for such dissent. This has been done before in an opinion by Judge Turney (Jackson, MS.), and repeatedly approved since; but as the opinion has not been, from some cause, published, it is due to the inferior courts and the profession that the views of this court should be given for their guidance.
We take it, that the theory under discussion is supposed to be sustained and required by sec. 19 of'
It is one of the things hard to be accounted for, how the language we have quoted was ever seen to have made any alteration whatever in the recognized, traditionary and long-settled rules of the common law as to the function and rights of a jury in all criminal cases. We need but recur for a moment to the history of the heated contest that was waged so fiercely in England, in about the last quarter of the last century down to the year 1792, when what is known as Mr. Fox’s Libel Bill was passed by the British Parliament, affirming the right of a jury, in all prosecutions for seditious libel, to judge of the law and the facts as in other criminal cases, to see beyond question what principle this clause in our Bill of Rights was intended to settle by embodying it in our organic law. The contest in England had grown up in this wise: The judges of her law courts — such as Thur-
In view of this history, and the contest that had been had in England over the question, when the 'Constitution of 1834 was framed, when providing for the freedom of the press and freedom of speech, in the Bill of Rights was inserted the section quoted, and the principle of Mr. Fox’s Libel Bill was embodied — that “in all indictments for libel, the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the facts” — not as they may think the law is, but “under the direction of the court, as in other criminal cases.” In plain words, should determine the law and the facts as they did in a- trial for murder, or for larceny, or any other crime. How was that? By the immemorial traditions of the common law, and the universal custom of the courts administering that law, the court instructing the jury as to what the law was, what were the legal elements of the offense, and the .jury finding the party innocent or guilty, as they in their judgment found these elements in the act of the party charged; that is, they, under the direction of the court, said whether he was legally guilty — tried him by the law of the land, that law given them by the court for their guide — and then, under our system, if convicted, the instructions, if erroneous, in a matter affecting the rights of the prisoner, could be reviewed, and the case reversed and remanded for a new trial, that the law may be correctly given for the guidance
The opposite theory, as embodied in his Honor’s charge, subverts the theory of the Constitution, by authorizing the jury, if they choose, to -decide the issue submitted to them, not under the direction of the court as to the law, but as they may conclude the law to be, which, practically, is to leave them to do as they will, guided by no law at all. The Constitution says they shall exercise their right, under the direction of the court — in no case independent of, it, much less contrary to it.
It has been usually assumed that the right claimed for a jury, as given by his Honor, is one working greatly to his advantage. This may be true in many cases, under the influence of skillful advocacy, appealing to prejudices or sympathies favorable to him, yet certainly does not, in this view, commend itself to the approval of a court, whose sole aim should be the administration and stern enforcement of the law, both
The whole theory, however, presents an anomaly, and contradiction to all the other theories and traditions of our law, impossible to be reconciled or sustained. An error of law, material to the rights of the prisoner, if committed by the court, entitles him
It has been repeatedly held that affidavits showing the jury had mistaken the law or misunderstood it as. given by the court, make no ground for new trial. Certainly, if this be so, the fact- they had made a mistake in what the law was, as arrived at by themselves, could not be inquired into for the purpose of' affecting their verdict.
Plainly the theory involves the absurdity, that an error of the judge may be revised, yet an error of the jury as to the law, which may be fatal to the prisoner, can never be; yet, on the theory, they are both equally judges of the law, — the jury, however, having the most effective right,' as they may regard, or not the charge of the court, and act independent of it, while the charge of the judge may be revised, by this court.
In the case of Hamilton v. The People, Amer. L. Register, vol. 13, p. 688, the Supreme Court of Michigan has well stated the true principle, and argued its correctness with unanswerable force. The court say: “The precise definition of a jury’s rights in criminal cases is easier understood than expressed. Their de--
The court, in the above case, continues: “The jury system is generally regarded as deriving one of' its chief advantages from having the law applied to-the facts by persons having no permanent offices, as magistrates, and who are likely to get the habit of disregarding any circumstances of fact, or of forcing cases into rigid forms and arbitrary classes. It is-especially important, when guilt depends on intention, to give full weight to every circumstance that can possibly affect it, and professional persons are constantly tempted to make the law symmetrical by disregarding small things. But it is necessary for public and private safety that the law shall be known and certain, and shall not depend on each jury that tries a cause. The interpretation of the law can have no-permanency or uniformity, nor .can it become generally known except through the action of courts. But if the court has no voice (or, we add, only a subordinate one) in laying down' these rules, there can be-no security whatever either that the innocent may not
We think all this sound reasoning and true philosophy. The true principle of our law is, that the jury are to receive the law -from the court — are to judge of its application to the facts, of which they are the exclusive judges, and following the legal direction (or under it, in the words of our Bill of Nights), shall say whether the party is guilty or innocent. They may err in their conclusions in favor of the prisoner, and acquit a guilty man. This can never be reviewed, and is a settled principle of our law; but this is what may occur in the action of all human tribunals. But the end of all investigation in courts is to administer the law and enforce legal rights— rights previously known and understood. To establish the principle, that a jury, if mentally uninstructed in the law, is the most competent tribunal to sny what that law is, and may disregard the opinions of courts
The most competent juries 'to judge of the law, will never be likely to assume such responsibility; the most incompetent and corrupt will be the sole practical repositories for the exercise of this high judicial [prerogative. No such rule having such results can possibly be sound, either in theory or practice,— but can only be evil, and that continually.
The principle we have maintained in this opinion
We conclude this discussion by a quotation from the language of Lord Hardwieke, in the case of Rex v. Poole, Cases temp. Hard., Amer. L. Keg., vol. 13, p. 300: “It is of the greatest consequence to the law of England, and to the subject, that the powers of the judge and jury be kept distinct; that the judge determine the law, and the jury the facts; and if ever they come to be confounded, it will prove the confusion and destruction of the law of England.”
We deem it equally important to the people of Tennessee that such shall be the rule, that every man may know by what law he shall be tried, and that offenders may feel sure that the whims, caprices or prejudices of a jury may not be relied on to acquit
The majority of the court, however, think that we can clearly see that the error discussed has not prejudiced the prisoner in this case — that it was, in fact, favorable to him, and gave him a chance that, under the law as given correctly by the court, he would not have had; that if there had been any error of law in the action of the court that would have worked him injury, we would have reversed; but that the-court having substantially and correctly given the rules-of law to' the jury, and they have, as all think, beyond question, found a correct verdict, in accord with the law and the facts, the judgment must be affirmed,, and it is so ordered, but I cannot assent to this conclusion.
It is settled law, uniformly followed in this court, that for a material error in stating the law to the jury by the judge, this court will reverse. This principle goes on the idea that the jury are to be guided by the rules of law .as known and established applicable to the case in hand. It would seem to follow necessarily, if the judge,'while stating the law with.
For these reasons, I think the judgment should be reversed, but a majority of the court thinking otherwise, the judgment will be affirmed.