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A Proposal For Limiting The Duty Of The Trial Judge To Instruct The Jury Sua Sponte, Paul H. Robinson

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This Article will present what appears to be a workable system which allows fulfillment of both of the jury instruction functions-jury guidance and legal-theory-resolution-and which will simultaneously reduce the number of reversals due to judicial error in instructing the jury (the latter result may be anticipated in any system which is able to produce the former result). This Article proposes the abolition of the sua sponte duty of the trial judge except for certain basic instructions to be specified by statute or by rule of court. The proposal would retain for each advocate the opportunity to propose instructions reflecting his …