The Gun Alley Tragedy: Record of the Trial of Colin Campbell Ross — John Shaqi
The Gun Alley Tragedy: Record of the Trial of Colin Campbell RossBrennan, T. C. (Thomas Cornelius)
History
The Gun Alley Tragedy: Record of the Trial of Colin Campbell Ross
Brennan, T. C. (Thomas Cornelius)
Ross, Colin Campbell, 1892-1922 -- Trials, litigation, etc.; Trials (Murder) -- Australia -- Victoria -- Melbourne
As to the first point, the position is this: An Appellate Court will
not interfere with the finding of a jury if there is any evidence on
which a jury could find as it did. It will not weigh the evidence to
see on which side the balance lies. That is the function of the jury,
and the Court will not usurp that function.
That position was made quite clear in the judgments of both Courts.
In the Supreme Courts the Chief Justice of Victoria said: “There was
abundance of evidence, if the jury believed it, as the jury apparently
did believe it, to support their finding, and we need add nothing more
upon that point.” In the High Court, the Chief Justice of Australia,
speaking for the majority of their Honours, dealt with the same point
thus: “As we have before indicated, there was, in our opinion, abundant
evidence, if the jury believed it, to sustain their verdict. But we
desire to add that, if there be evidence on which reasonable men could
find a verdict of guilty, the determination of the guilt or innocence
of the prisoner is a matter for the jury, and for them alone. And with
their decision, based on such evidence, no Court or Judge has any
right or power to interfere. It is of the highest importance that the
grave responsibility which rests on jurors in this respect should be
thoroughly understood and always maintained.” Even Mr. Justice Isaacs,
who dissented from the majority on a point not material to this review,
was quite at one with his learned brothers on this matter. “The ground
upon which,” said his Honour, “I agree to a rejection of all the other
grounds brought forward by Mr. Brennan is that, however powerful
the considerations he advanced, however tainted and discrepant and
improbable any of the facts relied on by the Crown might be, that was
all matter for the jury alone, and I have no right to express or to
form any opinion about them in favour of the prisoner.”
No Court and no Judge has, therefore, ever pronounced judgment on the
correctness or incorrectness of the jury’s verdict. All that they have
said is that there was some evidence on which the jury could find as it
did, and that that being so, the responsibility for the verdict must
rest with the tribunal which the law has set up to pronounce upon the
evidence. The purpose of this review of the case is to show, not that
the Appellate Courts were wrong, but that there are strong grounds for
believing that the jury was wrong. And that brings us naturally to a
second preliminary point.
WHY THE JURY MISJUDGED.
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