MISSOURI K. & T. RY. CO. v. SMITH

MISSOURI K. & T. RY. CO. v. SMITH
1912 OK 393
123 P. 1063
32 Okla. 841
Case Number: 1824
Decided: 05/14/1912
Supreme Court of Oklahoma

MISSOURI, K. & T. RY. CO.
v.
SMITH.

Syllabus

¶0 TRIAL--Verdict--Validity. In a case pending before statehood, the verdict of the jury must be unanimous; and it is error to instruct the jury, over the objection of one of the parties, that less than the whole number can return a verdict; and it is error to receive a verdict by less than the whole number.

Clifford L. Jackson, Wm. R. Allen, and M. D. Green, for plaintiff in error.
Preston S. Davis and Wm. P. Thompson, for defendant in error.

ROSSER, C.

¶1 Over the objection of the plaintiff in error, the court instructed the jury that three-fourths of their number might return a verdict. The verdict was actually rendered by ten jurors. Plaintiff in error duly excepted and saved his exceptions. This question has been decided in this court in the cases of Pacific Mutual Life Ins. Co. v. Adams, 27 Okla. 496, 112 P. 1026; Kerfoot, Bell & Co. v. Kerfoot, 30 Okla. 19, 118 P. 367; Border v. Carrabine, 30 Okla. 740, 120 P. 1087. In all these cases, it was held to be error to receive a verdict of less than the whole number of jurors in cases pending prior to statehood. This case should be reversed and remanded.

¶2 By the Court: It is so ordered.