Another type of
judge conveyed to the jury that the prosecution had established an
unanswerable case, but the defence had shown equal skill in shattering
it, and therefore he did not know on which side to make up his mind, and
fortunately English legal procedure did not render it necessary for him
to do so. The prisoner might be guilty and he might be innocent. Some of
the jury might think one thing and the rest of the jury might think
another. But it was the duty of the jury to come to an unanimous verdict.
It did not matter if they looked at some things in different ways, but
their final decision must be the same.
Mr. Justice Hodson belonged to the impartial, impersonal type of judge.
He had no personal feelings or conviction as to the guilt or innocence of
the prisoner. It was for the jury to settle that point and it was his
duty to assist them to the best of his ability. He went over his notes
carefully and dealt with the evidence of each of the witnesses. It was
for the jury to say what evidence they believed and what they
disbelieved. There was a pronounced conflict of evidence between Hill and
Fanning. They were the chief witnesses in the case, but the guilt or
innocence of the prisoner did not rest entirely upon the evidence of
either of these witnesses.
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