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Judicial Control Over The Sufficiency Of The Evidence In Jury Trials, Stanley B. Long

Washington Law Review

One has only to read the first few chapters of Thayer's Prelimmary Treatise on Evidence to realize that the history of trial by jury, from its beginning until the present day, records a continuous struggle to prevent the rendition of unreasonable verdicts. When the jury was really a body of witnesses summoned to try the case on their own knowledge, rather than upon evidence produced in court, it was sought to control their verdict by attaint. By this proceeding a new jury would be summoned to re-examine the issue tried by the first jury, and if the second found that …