"You must submit to the ruination of your character, or, if you seek legal redress, twelve other men will sit in judgment upon your motives and conduct in rendering the verdict you did." What was done in this case was to question the juror for the verdict rendered by him as an untrue verdict, and he was called upon to give the reasons and grounds of it; and the correctness of the verdict, and the sufficiency of the testimony to produce conviction in the mind of Welch and his fellow-jurors, was again tried before another jury as fully, to all intents and purposes, as if the proceedings by attaint had not been abolished. It can make no difference that the alleged libel is justified by plea. Justification is a good defense, but it must be proved by legal and competent evidence. The shield which the statute throws around jurors from being questioned and from suit for any verdict rendered by them cannot be broken or thrown aside for the purpose of trying the truth of the verdict rendered. The statute seeks to protect the rights of the public and of parties by proceeding against a juror who has been guilty of corrupt conduct in rendering a verdict by criminal prosecution. The conduct of jurors is not above criticism either by the public press or private parties. No political, judicial, or administrative department of the government is beyond criticism. But just criticism is not libelous, neither is severe criticism. But to charge that a jury have perjured themselves in rendering a certain verdict is libelous. It may appear in a criminal case, to a person not acting under the responsibility of an oath, from the facts and circumstances developed at the trial, that the accused is guilty, and ought to be convicted. Yet to the juror sitting upon the trial, every fact and circumstance must be consistent not only with the guilt of the accused of the crime charged, but the evidence must be of such character and weight as to leave no reasonable doubt of his guilt in the mind of the jury. How are such questions to be tried in a libel suit charging perjury under a plea of justification and truth of the charge? What nicely poised scales do the second jury possess which shall enable them to enter the domain of conscientious conviction or reasonable doubt in the minds of the first jury, and weigh them to ascertain whether they have violated their oaths? What has been said has application solely to the question under consideration; that is, to the right of defendcase like this to question a juror concerning a verdict rendered by him, or to inquire of him his motives or reasons for finding such verdict. This is sufficient for the present case. We think the question, and those succeeding it in the same direction, should have been excluded. We think the court erred in excluding an article appearing in defendant's paper, after suit was commenced, in which the article charged as libelous was republished and comments made. It was offered to show that the defendant entertained malice against plaintiff, and was admissible for that purpose. For the errors pointed out, the case must be reversed, and a new trial granted. The other Justices concurred. INDEX. Head-note references are to pages. Where there are several notes on a page, the number of the note is added in parenthesis, Cross-references are to subjects, and the same rule is followed as ACCEPTANCE BY ASSIGNEES-See ASSIGNMENT FOR BENEFIT ACCEPTANCE OF TENANCY-See DAMAGES (1). ACTION-See BILLS AND NOTES (2, 3); CORPORATIONS (8c); PARTIES AFFIDAVIT. An affidavit for a civil warrant which sets forth that the 673 AFFIDAVIT-Continued. clearly framed as is desirable, is sufficient to give the court See APPEAL (1); EVIDENCE (18); FORCIBLE ENTRY AND DETAINER AGENCY-See CONTRACT (3). AGENT-See PRINCIPAL AND AGENT (3). AMENDMENT-See MORTGAGE (1); PleadiNG (3, 4); PRACTICE IN ANTECEDENT DEBT-See PURCHASE FOR VALUE. ANTENUPTIAL AGREEMENT-See SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE (4). APPEAL. 1. An affidavit for an appeal from a judgment against two See CONDEMNATION PROCEEDINGS (5, 6); FORCIBLE ENTRY AND ARGUMENT TO JURY. 1. It is not error for the court to order counsel to desist from 2. An attorney is entitled to some license in his argument, and ARGUMENT TO JURY-Continued. conclusions than might be deduced by a disinterested and See CHARGE TO JURY (1); CRIMINAL LAW (1); EVIDENCE (2). ASSIGNMENT-See MECHANIC'S LIEN. ASSIGNMENT FOR BENEFIT OF CREDITORS. 1. The failure of an assignee under an assignment for the 2. The filing and approval of a bond by an assignee under an 3. A deed executed prior to the passage of the statute regulat- 4. Joining in such a deed, and placing it upon record after the 5. In such a case a creditor obtained a judgment against the |