State v. Copp

15 N.H. 212
Superior Court of New Hampshire·Decided July 15, 1844·Published·Cited by 9 cases

Opinion

Gilchrist, J.

The first exception taken by the prisoner’s counsel is, that the order of the court should have been proved by the record and not by parol. In support of this position we have been referred to ch. 175, § 15, of the Revised Statutes, which provides that “ every justice shall' keep a fair record, in one or more books to be kept for that purpose, of all proceedings, civil or criminal, before him.” But the order of the justice that the prisoner should remove from his position, was merely interlocutory, and cannot be considered as a “ proceeding,” civil or criminal, before him. The section was intended to provide for a regular entry of actions and complaints, and of the judgments thereon. It does not mean that none of the various orders made in the course of a trial shall be valid, and incapable of being proved, unless they are matters of record. Such a construction of his duty would be onerous to the justice, and is not called for by the ordinary necessities of practice. We think the exception should be overruled.

It is also contended that the justice had no authority to make the order in question.

The power of keeping order, and of requiring a decorous and proper demeanor in a court room during the progress of a trial, lies at the very foundation of the administration of justice. Without it there can be no law and no justice, for if the law will not authorize the means necessary to ensure its observance

[215] and proper administration, it must remain a dead letter. But tlio law never intended that the prisoner should have the power of stationing himself in any position he might desire during the trial. If it rested with Mm to select the location he might find most convenient, he might see fit to place himself upon the bench, or in the jury box. He was present at this trial, neither as a party nor as a witness. He went there to gratify his curiosity, and it behoved him so to conduct as not to disturb the proceedings of those who had duties to perform. These duties cannot be discharged unless the justice possesses the power upon an emergency to direct the removal of any individual whose presence he may think prejudicial to the interests of justice. The law does not, indeed, authorize any court to act arbitrarily, and unreasonably exclude persons, but the right to have the courts open is the right of the public and not of the individual. If every person for whom there is sufficient space, has a right to be in court, ho has a right to be in any part of it where there is sufficient space, and the inconvenience resulting from the exercise of such a right is a strong argument against its existence. It will be in many cases impossible that a proceeding should be conducted with due order and solemnity, and with the effect that justice demands, if the presiding magistrate, by whatever name he may be called, lias not the control of the proceeding, and the power of admission or exclusion, according to his own discretion. It is bettor that this discretion should be exercised by a person acting under the responsibility of an official oath, than that it should be loft to a crowd of lounging bystanders to enter and depart as their humors might dictate; and far better than that a court of justice should be desecrated by sucb lawless conduct as was exhibited by the prisoner, Garnett vs. Ferrand, 6 B. & C. 611. We think this objection should he overruled.

The third exception is that the order should have been sot out in the indictment. But it is sufficient to allege that the prisoner resisted the officer in discharge of his duty. It has never been held that the specific acts of resistance should he stated. They are not stated in the precedents, 2 Ch. Cr. Law 69, (Am. Ed. 1819.) The order, therefore, need not be recited, as the only [216] object in reciting it would be to show the particular acts of resistance, and we think this exception cannot be sustained.

There'is another exception, which is, that there is no competent evidence that Rowell was a deputy sheriff, as alleged in the indictment.

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State v. Copp, 15 N.H. 212 (N.H. Super. Ct. 1844).

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