Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

4 Cow. 17

Rose v. Smith

New York Supreme Court

Decided February 15, 1825

New York Supreme Court · decided 1825-02-15

On certiorari to a Justice’s Court, the affidavit upon which the certiorari was founded, charged misconduct in ° the jury, in drinking spirituous liquors. To this part of the affidavit the justice returned, that he knew. nothing of the fact.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1825-02-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 7 later decisions — most recently July 1905

7 state decisions

20182518301840185018601870188018901900decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Curia.

¶1This matter comes properly before us by an assignment of error in fact, issue and verdict; upon which the application for judgment should be special. The circulation of spirituous liquor among the jury was, of itself, fatal, on error; and we have decided, that even consent of parties will not cure it. The matter really to be tried, then, was not whether the circulation of the liquor was procured or consented to by the defendants, but whether such a thing took place for any cause, no matter what. In an inferior Court, it is impossible to correct this practice by moving for a new trial, as may be done in a Court of record. To avoid the evil of intoxication, effectually, it has, therefore, been thought necessary to interfere, and set aside the judgment, wherever, on error, it appears that spirituous liquor has circulated among the jury. The present is a flagrant case. Not only was liquor freely circulated, but one of the jury was, in the language of the verdict, disguised with liquor.

¶2Judgment reversed.

/4/cow/17 · .json · Public domain