Bryan v. State
Supreme Court of Alabama
Appeal from the Circuit Court of Pickens. Tried before the Hon. Geo. D. Shortridge. Jesse W. Bryan, the appellant, was indicted at the Fall term, 1854, of the Circuit Court of Pickens, for gaming; the indictment charging, in the alternative, all the offences enu* merated in section 3243 of the Code.
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Appeal from the Circuit Court of Pickens. Tried before the Hon. Geo. D. Shortridge. Jesse W. Bryan, the appellant, was indicted at the Fall term, 1854, of the Circuit Court of Pickens, for gaming; the indictment charging, in the alternative, all the offences enu* merated in section 3243 of the Code. On the trial, the defendant, having introduced no evidence himself, demurred to the evidence adduced in behalf of the State; and the State having joined in the demurrer, the court held the evidence sufficient to support a conviction, and judgment was rendered accordingly. The evidence, as set out…
1Opinion of the CourtGoldth Waite, J.
— The only question presented by the record arises upon the action of the court on the demurrer to the evidence. The object of a demurrer to evidence is not, as has sometimes been supposed, to substitute the judge in the place of the jury as a trier of the facts ; for, if that was the case, it would destroy one of the chief characteristics of the common law; which separated, by a clear and distinct line, the duties of the judge and jury, — giving to the one the determination of the facts, and confining the other to questions of law. The office of a demurrer to evidence is precisely the same…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Carson v. Bank of AlabamaSupreme Court of Alabama · 1842
- Young v. FosterSupreme Court of Alabama · 1838
3Cited by4 opinions
- Ex Parte GrimmettSupreme Court of Alabama · 1933
- Mobile Light & Railroad Co. v. PortissSupreme Court of Alabama · 1915
- Morris v. HallSupreme Court of Alabama · 1868
- Shaw v. WhiteSupreme Court of Alabama · 1856