Penticost v. Massey
Penticost v. Massey
Opinion of the Court
This is the second appeal in this cause. Penticost v. Massey, 77 South. 675. 1 The last trial resulted in a judgment for plaintiff; and on motion of defendant a new trial was granted, from, which judgment the appeal is taken, and is prosecuted in this court
*682 The bill of exceptions recites that it contains all of the evidence “had upon the trial of the said cause, and all of the evidence introduced and had upon the trial of said motion,” on which the new trial was granted.
The appellee insists that the “laws involved (in the two appeals) axe not the same”; that the “charge held error in the former appeal was the direction of a verdict (for defendant) without hypothesis; on this appeal the charge involved contained the hypothesis that the jury believe the evidence;” and that “several materially different aspects in the evidence” were presented in the respective trials, but that “in general the facts are the same as those upon the former appeal.”
Mr. Proffatt, in his Jury Trial, § 306a, p. 373, said:
“Those who have carefully studied this system have repeatedly pointed out the necessity of keeping [the court and the' jury] each in its appropriate sphere, as the certainty and fixedness of our law, as well as the utility of the jury system, depend upon the separation between the duties of the judge and those of the jury.”
In Meadows v. State, 182 Ala. 51, 54, 62 South. 737, Ann. Cas. 1915D, 663, is quoted approvingly from State v. Smith, 6 R. I. 34, the statement that—
“The line between the duties of a court and jury * * * is perfectly well defined, and the rigid observance of it is of the last importance to the administration of systematic justice. * * * In this way court and jury are made responsible, each in its appropriate department, for the part taken by each, * * * and in this way alone can errors of fact and errors of law be traced * * * to their proper sources.”
And it concludes with the true observation:
“If a trial judge is permitted to coerce a jury into a verdict, then the value of the system of trial by jury is at an end.”
The judgment of the circuit court is affirmed.
Affirmed
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Penticost v. Massey.
- Cited By
- 38 cases
- Status
- Published