Coffin v. United States

Citations

162 U.S. 664
16 S. Ct. 943
40 L. Ed. 1109
1896 U.S. LEXIS 2239

Syllabus

Goffin v. United States, 156 U. S. 432, affirmed on the following points: (1) That the offence of aiding or abetting an officer of a national bank in committing one or more of the offences set forth in Rev. Stat. § 5209, may be committed by persons who are not officers or-agents of the bank, and, consequently, it is not necessary to aver in an indictment against such an aider or abettor that he was an officer of the bank, or occupied any specific relation to it when committing the offence; (2) That the plain and unmistakable statement of the indictment ip that case and this, as a whole, is that the acts charged against Haughey were done by him as president of the bank, and that the aiding' and abetting was also done by assisting him in the official capacity-in which alone it is charged that he misapplied the funds. Instructions requested may be properly refused when fully covered by the general charge of the court. When the charge? as a whole, correctly conveys to the jury the rule by which they are to determine, from all the evidence, the question of intent, there is no error in refusing the request of the defendant to single •out the absence of one of the several possible motives for the commission of the offence, and instruct the jury as to the weight to be given to this particular fact, independent of the other proof in the case. The refusal to give, when requested, a correct legal proposition does not constitute error, unless there be evidence rendering the legal theory applicable to the case. When it is impossible to determine whether there was evidence tending to ' show a state of facts adequate to make a refused instruction pertinent, and • there is nothing else in the bill of exceptions to which the stated principle could apply, títere is no error in refusing it. Several other exceptions are examined and held to be without merit. A bank president, not acting in good faith, has no right to permit ove

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1895 United States Supreme Court case

Coffin v. United States, 156 U.S. 432 (1895), was an appellate case before the United States Supreme Court in 1895 which established the presumption of innocence of persons accused of crimes in a landmark decision.[1]

F. A. Coffin and Percival B. Coffin, plaintiffs in error , and A. S. Reed had been charged with aiding and abetting the former president of the Indianapolis National Bank, Theodore P. Haughey, in misdemeanor bank fraud between January 1, 1891, and July 26, 1893.

It is a complex case with a 50-count indictment. But the most interesting aspect is commentary by the Court regarding presumption of innocence:

The principle that there is a presumption of innocence in favor of the accused is the undoubted law, axiomatic and elementary, and its enforcement lies at the foundation of the administration of our criminal law ... Concluding, then, that the presumption of innocence is evidence in favor of the accused, introduced by the law in his behalf, let us consider what is 'reasonable doubt .' It is, of necessity, the condition of mind produced by the proof resulting from the evidence in the cause. It is the result of the proof, not the proof itself, whereas the presumption of innocence is one of the instruments of proof, going to bring about the proof from which reasonable doubt arises; thus one is a cause, the other an effect. To say that the one is the equivalent of the other is therefore to say that legal evidence can be excluded from the jury, and that such exclusion may be cured by instructing them correctly in regard to the method by which they are required to reach their conclusion upon the proof actually before them; in other words, that the exclusion of an important element of proof can be justified by correctly instructing as to the proof admitted. The evolution of the principle of the presumption of innocence, and its resultant, the doctrine of reasonable doubt, make more apparent the correctness of these views, and indicate the necessity of enforcing the one in order that the other may continue to exist.

In the decision, the Court then goes on to detail the complete legal history of presumed innocence.

References

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↑ "Coffin v. U.S. (1895) | Definition" . docmckee.com. Retrieved October 14, 2024.

External links

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Works related to Coffin v. United States at Wikisource
Text of Coffin v. United States, 156 U.S. 432 (1895) is available from: Justia Library of Congress

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Coffin v. United States

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