State v. Holt

• Decision Date: 28 February 1884
• Citation: 90 N.C. 749,47 Am.Rep. 544
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE v. SIDNEY B. HOLT.

90 N.C. 749

47 Am.Rep. 544

STATE

v.SIDNEY B. HOLT.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

February Term, 1884.

INDICTMENT for cruelty to animals, tried at January Term, 1884, of WAKE Superior Court, before Shepherd, J.

The defence is former conviction, the plea being set out in the record. And then comes the following: “The court heard said plea upon the following facts agreed between the state and the defendant, to-wit: that the defendant at June term, 1883, of said court, came into court in his own proper person and entered his plea of guilty to a bill of indictment then pending, to-wit, an indictment for cruelty to certain domestic animals described as ‘game cocks'; that it was stated to His Honor, the then presiding judge, that certain other bills were then under consideration by the grand jury, for cruelty to domestic animals; that the said bills are the same as that now pending against this defendant, and no other bills; that the counsel for the state stated to the court that there were other bills pending before the grand jury, and that the cock-fight had continued for three days and the judgment should be heavier on that account, and the judge remarked, ‘let every tub stand on its own bottom,’ and fined the defendant in that case (at June term, 1883) twenty-five dollars, and held the defendant to answer in the other cases.” Signed by the counsel for the defendant and the solicitor for the state. “That the various bills including this one were for fighting on different days, but in the same main.” Signed by defendant's counsel and the solicitor.

His Honor overruled the plea of former conviction. Thereupon the defendant pleaded guilty, and from the judgment imposing a fine of twenty-five dollars the defendant appealed.

Attorney-General, for the state .

Messrs. T. P. Devereux and J. E. Bledsoe, for defendant .

MERRIMON, J.

The defendant indicted under THE CODE, §§2482 and 2483, prohibiting ““cruelty to animals.” He pleaded “former conviction.” The case was called for trial. It does not appear that the defendant waived or undertook to waive his right to a trial by jury, but the case states that it was “agreed between the state and the defendant” that a statement of facts submitted to the court were the facts of the case. This statement was not submitted in the shape of a special verdict, but it seems that it was intended to be so treated.

The court, upon consideration of the facts thus submitted, found the issue raised by the plea against the defendant, gave judgment for the state, and the defendant appealed to this court.

The constitution (Art. I, §13) provides that “no person shall be convicted of any crime but by the unanimous verdict of a jury of good and lawful men in open court. The legislature may, however, provide other means of trial for petty misdemeanors with the right of appeal.”

The substance of this provision is taken from Magna Charta. For centuries the right of trial by jury in criminal cases has been regarded by the English people as one of their chief and sure defenses against abitrary power. The colonists in this country brought that right to this, from the parent country, and it has become a part of the birthright of every free man. The people of the American Union, and especially the people of this state, have, ever since their existence as a people, regarded and treated this provision in their organic law as an essential feature in free government, and as one of the fundamental bulwarks of their civil and political liberty. They have always given it a place in that part of the constitution denominated, because of its superior importance, The Declaration of Rights. They guard it with jealous care and unceasing solicitude, and any open infraction of it would certainly give rise to general alarm and deep discontent, resulting sooner or later in the reassertion of constitutional supremacy or flagrant civil strife.

This solicitude of the people is not unnatural, unnecessary or unworthy. They show but a reasonable appreciation of a provision in government of the highest moment to them. The just purpose and excellence of trial by jury, especially in criminal cases, are not imaginary and whimsical, or the outgrowth of popular ignorance and persistent clamor. While it is not perfect as a method of trial, has its imperfections, and is sometimes perverted and prostituted, nevertheless, the practical experience of one of the freest and most enlightened nations of the earth for centuries and of this country during all the time of its existence, the sanction of it by the wisest statesmen and jurists in different ages, as well as common sense, have proved its inestimable value as the best method of trial, in criminal cases especially, and the necessity for it as a constituent provision in any system of free government. Judge STORY, in his Commentaries on the Constitution, thus points out its great purpose and the ends it subserves: Section 1780. “The great object of a trial by jury in criminal cases is to guard against a spirit of oppression and tyranny on the part of rulers, and against a spirit of violence and vindictiveness on the part of the people. Indeed, it is often more important to guard against the latter than the former. The sympathies of all mankind are enlisted against the revenge and fury of a single despot, and every attempt will be...