Richards v. Commonwealth
General Court of Virginia
Petition for a writ of error to a judgment of the Circuit Superior Court of Chesterfield. Richards was'indicted of perjury, and pleaded not guilty.
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Petition for a writ of error to a judgment of the Circuit Superior Court of Chesterfield. Richards was'indicted of perjury, and pleaded not guilty. He represented to the court, and proved, that he was an. alien and a native of England; and, therefore, he-moved the court to order a jury de medietate linguoe to-be summoned for the trial of the cause;* whereupon, the court ordered the sheriff to summon a jury for the; trial, of whom six should be citizens qualified as the-law directs, and the other six aliens and natives of Great Britain, if so many could be found, if not, then so many other…
1Dissent
Brown, Fry, Christian and Robertson, J.
dissented from the opinion and the judgment. And the following opinion (in which Fry and Christian, J. expressed their concurrence) was delivered by
*732Robertson, J.
Ho question -which concerns the administration of the criminal laws of a state can be regarded as unimportant. Especially is it in cum-bent on those whose province it is finally to determine the true construction of the penal code, to pause and ponder well before they break down or weaken the barriers erected against oppression and prejudice. On this account perhaps, rather than on account, of…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Respublica v. Mesca EtSupreme Court of the United States · 1783