In criminal cases the verdict must be unanimous one way or the other; if not, the case has to be tried all over again.[151] In civil cases unanimous verdicts are required in some states but not in others. The verdict, whatever it may be, is reported in open court and is ordinarily conclusive. In some cases, however, the presiding judge is empowered to set a unanimous verdict aside and to order a new trial.[152] Where an accused person is found not guilty by the unanimous verdict of a jury he may never, under any circumstances, be placed on trial for the same offence again.[153] If he is found guilty, on the other hand, he has in most cases the right to appeal, on points of law, to a higher court. =Value of the Jury System.=—The jury system has great value but also some serious defects. Its value consists in assuring to everyone a fair determination of the facts by an impartial body of his neighbors, each one of whom is sworn to decide without fear or favor. It is a great safeguard against the tyranny of judges and public officials. On the other hand it makes judicial administration expensive (for the jurymen have to be paid); it results in making trials much longer than if the evidence were heard by a judge alone; and the requirement that verdicts shall be unanimous often results in no verdict at all. Exemptions from jury service have been given too freely, so that juries are sometimes made up of men who serve because they have no other work to do. The others are either exempted by law or ask to be excused by the court. Prolonged trials and close confinement make jury service a burden which many people try to evade. In serious cases the jurymen are sometimes not permitted to visit their homes for weeks at a time; they sleep in the courthouse, have their meals under the watchful eye of the sheriff, and are not permitted to read the newspapers while the trial lasts. Occasionally we have witnessed the absurd spectacle of a jury kept under guard while the prisoner was out on bail. Yet with all its faults the jury system affords a safer method of trying criminal cases than trial by a judge alone. On the other hand the use of jury trials in civil cases, particularly where the matters in dispute are not of great importance, tends to delay the work of the courts. It has been suggested that all such cases ought to be tried by the judge alone.