Wynn v. City & Suburban Railway

17 S.E. 649, 91 Ga. 344
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedMarch 20, 1893
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 17 S.E. 649 (Wynn v. City & Suburban Railway) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wynn v. City & Suburban Railway, 17 S.E. 649, 91 Ga. 344 (Ga. 1893).

Opinion

Lumpkin, Justice.

1. With wise regard for the rights of the people, the framers of oilr constitution provided that no law should ■ever be passed to curtail or restrain the liberty of the press, and guaranteed that every person might publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible, however, for the abuse of that liberty. It is, therefore, proper and becoming that the courts and all others [347]*347should recognize the constitutional right of newspapers to deal with all matters of public interest, and it is equally proper and becoming that newspapers should confine themselves within the limits prescribed by the constitution, and not abuse the liberty given them by that instrument by interfering in any manner with the business of the courts. A newspaper may at any time, with perfect propriety, fairly and truly report all proceedings which have already taken place in the courts of the country, but no newspaper has a right, while a case is under investigation, to comment upon its merits, or to express in its columns any opinion as to questions of fact involved; and this is especially true when what is published will most probably fall under the eye of jurors actually engaged in trying the case, and who may be more or less affected or influenced by the publication. Under our system, the judges have nothing to do with deciding disputed issues of fact, but these are matters left entirely to the juries. It follows that if a judge should read newspaper articles about a pending case, it could have no effect upon the verdict to be rendered, for he has nothing to do with the making of the verdict so far as the facts are concerned. It is quite different, however, with jurors, for if they should derive any impression of a case from newspaper publications, or through other sources of information outside of the evidence, it is impossible to know what effect may thus be had upon their finding. Hence it is that no attorney, party, officer of court, or any other person, is allowed to communicate with a juror about a pending case while he is charged with the consideration and determination of it. Newspapers have no more right to interfere in matters of this sort than any other person, and it is of the utmost importance that they should refrain from so doing. Whenever a newspaper, whether wilfully or otherwise, violates this plain and manifest rule of pro[348]*348priety, and the fact comes to the knowledge of the presiding judge, it is not only his right, but his duty, to call the attention of the jury thereto, express his unqualified disapprobation of such conduct, and caution the jury not to be influenced by the publication in question. Nor is there any error in informing the jury of his intention to summarily deal with the persons who have thus placed themselves in contempt of the court.

2. During the trial, the plaintiff, a child, was on the stand testifying as a witness, his mother being present. The presiding judge, for reasons which were apparently well founded, thought he discovered the mother endeavoring, by nods or other motions of her head, to direct or influence the child’s testimony, and called the attention of counsel to the matter, without, however, expressing any opinion as to the mother’s purpose or motive. Afterwards, upon being informed that she was suffering from a nervous affection, which would account for these motions, he stated to the jury that no wrong inference should be drawn therefrom. We are unable to perceive any error in what the court did as to the matter in question. If it was plain and manifest that any person was prompting, or in any other manner endeavoring to interfere with a witness on the stand with a view to giving shape or direction to his testimony, it would be the duty of the presiding judge not only to call the attention of counsel to the same, but to peremptorily put a stop to such reprehensible conduct; and where there is apparently good reason to suspect that such a thing is taking place, it is certainly not improper for the court to take the proper steps to ascertain the truth, especially when this is done in such a manner as not to prejudice the rights of either party to the case.

3. Nothing can be more grossly improper and unbecoming than for a juror, who has been allowed to separate from his fellows, to converse with a witness [349]*349about the facts of the case. There is no excuse whatever for any such conduct on the part of the juror or the witness. The misbehavior of the juror is worse* than that of the witness, especially when the latter is a mere youth, as in the present case. Such misconduct, in a case at all doubtful, would require the granting of a new trial at the instance of the losing party, if he made it appear that he and his counsel were ignorant of the facts until after the trial had ended. Not only was there a failure to make this appear in the case with which we are now dealing, however, but there is very strong reason for the inference that the plaintiff and his counsel knew of the irregularity mentioned, before the verdict they seek to set aside was rendered. Whether this be true or not, before the plaintiff’ would be entitled to a new trial on this ground, it would be incumbent upon him to show affirmatively that he did not, with knowledge of the irregularity, take the chances of obtaining a verdict in his favor.

4. The slip taken from the register on a street car, showing the number of passengers carried on a given trip, and which the conductor was required to leave at the company’s office, is not the best evidence, nor, indeed, any evidence at all, of the number of passengers on his car at any particular time or place. Consequently, there was no error in allowing the conductor to state, without producing his slip, his recollection of the number of passengers he had when the injury to the plaintiff occurred.

5. The railway company relied mainly upon the defence that the plaintiff’ was not, as he claimed, a passenger, but was a mere trespasser who had gotten upon the car with no intention of paying fa,re, but with the purpose of stealing a ride. Much evidence was introduced in support of this contention. Mr. Shuman, one of the conductors of the company, positively identified the [350]*350plaintiff as a boy who had constantly been in the habit of jumping upon his car, giving him serious trouble and vexation. If the conductor was on the rear platform, this boy would get on in front; and when driven off’ the front steps, he would immediately again jump on in the rear; and would sometimes throw rocks at the car and dirt at the conductor. Introduced as a witness in rebuttal, the plaintiff’ flatly denied ever having thrown dirt at Mr. Shuman, or anything at his car, or that Mr. Shuman had ever begged him not to jump on the car. Yet, upon his cross-examination, the plaintiff' admitted that he had previously been in the habit of jumping upon the company’s cars; that he knew Mr. Shuman, and had jumped upon his car without his permission and without paying fare.

It was therefore incumbent upon the court to present the issue thus made to the jury. This he did with perfect fairness to the plaintiff, expressly instructing them that if the plaintiff, as he claimed, got upon the car with the expectation of paying fare, and had not paid it simply because it had not been demanded of him, then his status and rights as a passenger would be exactly the same as though payment had actually been made, the plaintiff being under no obligation to seek the conductor and tender him fare.

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Bluebook (online)
17 S.E. 649, 91 Ga. 344, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wynn-v-city-suburban-railway-ga-1893.