The exaggerations of the presumption ``in dubio pro reo'' are due
to a sort of mummification and degeneracy of the legal maxims,
whereby propositions based upon observation and generalisation
from existing facts continue in force and are mechanically applied
after the facts have changed or ceased to exist.
What reason can there be for extending provisional freedom,
pending an appeal, to one who has already been found guilty and
liable to punishment for a crime or offence, under sentence of a
court of first instance? To presume the innocence of every one
during the first trial is reasonable; but to persist in a
presumption which has been destroyed by facts, after a first
condemnation, would be incomprehensible if it were not a
manifestly exaggerated outcome of classical and individualist
theories, which can only see a ``victim of authority'' in every
accused person, and in every condemned person also.
Another point is that of acquittal in case of an equality of
votes, especially where born and habitual criminals are concerned.
I think it would be much more reasonable to restore the verdict of
``not proven,'' which the Romans admitted under the form of ``non
liquet,'' as an alternative to ``absolvo'' and ``condemno,'' and
which may be delivered by juries in Scotland.
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