That the jury should be compelled to listen to all that mass of
testimony and then at the end not have a chance to decide is
unreasonable. If the plaintiff did not have a case, why did the judge
let them go on? He should have found it out earlier instead of wasting
all that time.
After the whole case is in, it may happen that both sides move for a
direction of the verdict and then the jury have nothing to do. The
judge says:
"Gentlemen of the Jury, I direct you to find a verdict for so-and-so."
Before they have a chance to say whether they will or will not, the
clerk announces a verdict for so-and-so. This is very annoying and
discouraging, especially when the jury were going to find a verdict
directly contrary to the way the judge decided. Technically they have
a right to refuse to find a verdict as the judge directs, but if they
did, only a mis-trial would result.
It is an illustration of the difference between the function of a
judge and a jury. The jury pass on the facts, the judge on the law.
When the judge dismisses the case, he is saying that the facts may be
so and what happened may be truly stated, but even then it does not
make any difference. The law is that those facts do not make out a
case.
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