Willis: Anglo-American Law 
49 
rules of law in ascertaining the facts and in determining the effect to 
be given to the facts when found. In some jurisdictions the court is 
not obliged to give the jury any instructions which are not so requested. 
The court will advise the attorneys which of the requested instructions 
it will give in order that they may frame their summing-up arguments 
accordingly. 
Same — Summing-up by Attorneys. These arguments usually come 
next, though in some states they follow the charge of the court. Ordi- 
narily Lawyer, since Student has the burden of establishing his case, 
will open the argument, Andrew will answer him, and Lawyer will reply 
in rebuttal. In some jurisdictions Andrew will open the argument and 
Lawyer will close, each side having but one speech. In these argu- 
ments each attorney will be confined to the evidence and will not be per- 
mitted to indulge in prejudicial immaterialities. He will try, by his 
analysis of the testimony and of the method of applying it to the is- 
sues, to persuade the jury that its verdict should be in his favor. 
Same — Charge of the Court. The court will then deliver its charge 
to the jury. This is usually done orally; in some places the court is 
required to reduce the instructions to writing and let the jury take 
them to the jury room. In almost all of the states of the Union, this 
charge must not contain any comment upon the weight of the evi- 
dence or the credibility of the witnesses, but must be confined to ex- 
pounding the rules of law which the jury should apply in reaching their 
verdict. In the Federal Courts, in Connecticut and a few other states, 
the court may express its opinion upon the weight of the evidence and 
the credibility of the witnesses. In England the charge is called the 
summing-up by the court and consists of a review and analysis of the 
testimony and the opinion of the court on how it should be handled, 
as well as a statement of the rules of law governing the case which 
are to be applied by the jury. 
Same — Verdict. At the conclusion of the charge the court places 
the jury in the custody of an officer, who conducts them to the jury 
room. In this room they deliberate upon the case in secret until they 
reach a verdict. In some places they deliver the verdict orally in court 
through their foreman; in others they return a written verdict signed 
by the foreman, and express oral assent thereto when it is read in 
open court. After the verdict is received by the court, the jury is dis- 
charged and the trial is at an end. 
Motion in Arrest of Judgment. After the verdict, which may be 
assumed to be in Student’s favor, the defendant may move that judg- 
ment be arrested on the ground that the declaration or complaint is 
fatally defective in wholly failing to state a cause of action. The ques- 
tion raised by this motion is the same as that raised by a general 
demurrer; but the court’s attitude at this stage of the proceeding is 
to resolve every doubt in favor of the pleading, because it is now sup- 
ported by the verdict. In determining this motion, the court may render 
an opinion which will find its way into the law reports. 
Motion for Judgment notwithstanding the Verdict. If the verdict 
had been in favor of Policeman, Student might have moved for judg- 
ment notwithstanding the verdict, had Policeman’s sole defense been one 
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