Judge Fisher in charging the jury made the following reference to this remarkable argument by Mr. Merrick: "You have been told, gentlemen, by the counsel for the defense, in a manner not very respectful, certainly by no means complimentary to the Court, that you are the judges of the law as well as the facts in criminal cases, and that you have the right to disregard the instructions of the Court in matters of law; and they tell you that their expositions of the law, and the weight of character they possess, may be more safely relied upon than the instructions which may be given you by the Court. The weight of character of a prisoner's counsel would be a variable, and not unfrequently a very unsafe criterion by which the jury should judge as to the law of his case. Perhaps they would have you regard the court as sitting on the bench merely to discharge the duty of preserving order and decorum in the court room, which probably the crier of the court or baliff might be disposed to regard as an usurpation of his prerogative. If the jury are entirely to disregard the judge's instructions as to the law of a case, I confess I can see but little left than that for him to perform. "It is true, gentlemen, that you have the power, and in cases where your consciences are satisfied that the instructions of the Court are dictated, not by an honest desire to enlighten the jury as to the true state of the law, but by corrupt and wicked motives, you have the right to disregard the instructions purposely intended to mislead you. But to claim that the jury are better judges of what the law may be than the Court, is about as reasonable as to assert that a plain farmer or merchant may be taken fresh from his plough or his counter, and be more capable of navigating and manoeuvering a steam frigate, or to lead your armies to certain victories, than your admiral or commander-in-chief. In my opinion, you have just the same right to disregard the evidence of the witnesses who stood before you unimpeached in any matter respecting the facts involved in the cause, as you have to disregard what the Court may say to you, under an official oath, as to the law that may apply to the facts. A jury have the _power_, if they choose to exercise it, after having assumed the obligations of an oath, to say that they will neither believe the judge nor the witnesses, but decide upon the law and facts according to their own caprice, or the confidence which they may repose in the character of counsel on either side, but such is not the purpose for which juries were instituted, and they have no right so to act. When the witnesses in the cause have testified before you as to the facts, it is then the office of the judge, under his official oath, to testify to you in the spirit of truth, according to the best of his knowledge and ability, as to what is the law which may be applicable to those facts; and an honest jury will disregard neither the testimony of the witnesses nor the