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Opinion of the Court.

floods, is a question which each State decides for itself. The confusion of navigable with tide water, found in the monuments of the common law, long prevailed in this country, notwithstanding the broad differences existing between the extent and topography of the British island and that of the American continent. It had the influence for two generations of excluding the admiralty jurisdiction from our great rivers and inland seas; and, under the like influence, it laid the foundation in many States of doctrines with regard to the ownership of the soil in navigable waters above tide water at variance with sound principles of public policy. Whether, as rules of property, it would now be safe to change these doctrines where they have been applied, as before remarked, is for the several States themselves to determine. If they choose to resign to the riparian proprietor rights which properly belong to them in the sovereign capacity, it is not for others to raise objections."

In Packer v. Bird, 137 U. S. 661, 669, where a similar question arose, and where it was claimed that the fact that the title was derived by a grant from the United States afforded a reason for decision, Mr. Justice Field stated the question as follows:

"The courts of the United States will construe the grants of the general government without reference to the rules of construction adopted by the States for their grants; but whatever incidents or rights attach to the ownership of property conveyed by the government will be determined by the States, subject to the condition that their rules do not impair the efficacy of the grants or the use and enjoyment of the property by the grantee. As an incident of such ownership the right of the riparian owner, where the waters are above the influence of the tide, will be limited according to the law of the State, either to low or high water mark, or will extend to the middle of the stream."

The language of Barney v. Keokuk was cited with approval, and the conclusion reached was that the law of the State, as construed by its Supreme Court, was decisive of the controversy.

Opinion of the Court.

The question was again presented in Hardin v. Jordan, 140 U. S. 372, 384, and, after a review of the cases, Mr. Justice Bradley stated the conclusion as follows:

"We do not think it necessary to discuss this point further. In our judgment the grants of the government for lands bounded on streams and other waters, without any reservation or restriction of terms, are to be construed as to their effect according to the law of the State in which the lands lie."

In Shively v. Bowlby, 152 U. S. 1, 58, this court had to deal with a conflict as to the title in certain lands below high water mark in the Columbia River in the State of Oregon, between parties claiming respectively under the United States and under the State of Oregon. The entire subject was thoroughly examined, involving a review of all the cases, both state and Federal, and one of the conclusions reached was thus stated by Mr. Justice Gray :

"Grants by Congress of portions of the public lands within a territory to settlers thereon, though bordering on or bounded by navigable waters, convey, of their own force, no title or right below high water mark, and do not impair the title and dominion of the future State when created; but leave the question of the use of the shores by the owners of uplands to the sovereign control of each State, subject only to the rights vested by the Constitution of the United States."

These decisions not only dispose of the proposition that lands, situated within a State, but whose title is derived from the United States, are entitled to be exempted from local regulations admitted to be applicable to lands held by grant from the State, but also of the other proposition that the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment extend to and override public rights, existing in the form of servitudes or easements, held by the courts of a State to be valid under the constitution and laws of such State.

The subject-matter of such rights and regulations falls within the control of the States, and the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States are satisfied if, in cases like the present one, the state law, with its benefits and its obligations, is impartially adminis

Statement of the Case.

tered. Walker v. Sauvinet, 92 U. S. 90; Davidson v. New Orleans, 96 U. S. 97; Missouri v. Lewis, 101 U. S. 22 · Hallinger v. Davis, 146 U. S. 314.

The plaintiff in error is, indeed, not a citizen of Louisiana, but he concedes that, as respects his property in that State, he has received the same measure of right as that awarded to its citizens, and we are unable to see, in the light of the Federal Constitution, that he has been deprived of his property without due process of law, or been denied the equal protection of the laws.

The decree of the court below is

MR. JUSTICE BREWER dissented.

Affirmed.

DAVIS v. UNITED STATES.

ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE

WESTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS.

No. 593. Submitted October 30, 1895. - Decided December 16, 1895.

If it appears, on the trial of a person accused of committing the crime of murder, that the deceased was killed by the accused under circumstances which - nothing else appearing — made a case of murder, the jury cannot properly return a verdict of guilty of the offence charged if, upon the whole evidence, from whichever side it comes, they have a reasonable doubt whether, at the time of killing, the accused was mentally competent to distinguish between right and wrong, or to understand the nature of the act he was committing.

No man should be deprived of his life under the forms of law unless the jurors who try him are able, upon their consciences, to say that the evidence before them, by whomsoever adduced, is sufficient to show beyond a reasonable doubt the existence of every fact necessary to constitute the crime charged.

THE plaintiff in error was indicted for murder, tried in the court below, and convicted. In the opinion of this court the issue brought here for decision is stated as follows. "The

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Argument for Defendants in Error.

court below instructed the jury that the defence of insanity could not avail the accused unless it appeared affirmatively, to the reasonable satisfaction of the jury, that he was not criminally responsible for his acts. The fact of killing being clearly proved, the legal presumption, based upon the common experience of mankind, that every man is sane, was sufficient, the court in effect said, to authorize a verdict of guilty, although the jury might entertain a reasonable doubt. upon the evidence, whether the accused, by reason of his mental condition, was criminally responsible for the killing in question. In other words, if the evidence was in equilibrio as to the accused being sane, that is, capable of comprehending the nature and effect of his acts, he was to be treated just as he would be if there were no defence of insanity or if there were an entire absence of proof that he was insane."

No appearance for plaintiff in error.

Mr. Assistant Attorney General Dickinson for defendants in error.

There is much conflict of authority on the proposition as to whether the judge should charge the jury that they must acquit if the whole evidence raises a reasonable doubt in their minds as to whether the defendant is sane or not.

The doctrine in England is well settled that the burden is on the defendant to establish his insanity to the reasonable satisfaction of the jury. Russell on Crimes, 9th ed. 525; Roscoe on Criminal Evidence, 7th ed. 975; Foster's Crown Law, 225.

In McNaghten's case, 10 Cl. & Finn. 200, the question of insanity as a defence in criminal cases having been made the subject of debate in the House of Lords, the opinion of the judges on the law governing such cases was taken, and on the point here involved the answer was that "the jurors ought to be told that every man is presumed to be sane and to possess a sufficient degree of reason to be responsible for his crimes until the contrary be proved to their satisfaction."

Argument for Defendants in Error.

The law so declared has been acquiesced in in England. In this country there are two lines of authorities. The following hold the doctrine that the burden of proof is on the defendant to establish insanity to the reasonable satisfaction of the jury, some of the cases using the language that it must be established by a preponderance of the evidence. These authorities will all be cited together as adverse to the contention that only a reasonable doubt must be raised: Rice's Criminal Evidence, vol. 3, §§ 398, 399; Wharton on Homicide, § 668; Wharton on Criminal Evidence, § 340; Wharton on Criminal Law, 7th ed. § 54; Greenleaf on Evidence, vol. 2, § 373; vol. 3, § 5. Alabama: Boswell v. State, 63 Alabama, 307; Parsons v. State, 81 Alabama, 577; Gunter v. State, 83 Alabama, 96; Maxwell v. State, 89 Alabama, 150. Arkansas: Coates v. State, 50 Arkansas, 330; Bolling v. State, 54 Arkan sas, 588. California: People v. McDonell, 47 California, 134; People v. Bawden, 90 California, 195; People v. Travers, 88 California, 233; People v. Bemmerly, 98 California, 299. Georgia: Fogarty v. State, 80 Georgia, 450, 455. Iowa: State v. Bruce, 48 Iowa, 530; State v. Trout, 74 Iowa, 545. Kentucky: Kriel v. Commonwealth, 5 Bush, 362; Moore v. Commonwealth, 18 S. W. Rep. 833. Louisiana: State v. Coleman, 27 La. Ann. 691; State v. Burns, 25 La. Ann. 302; State v. De Rancé, 34 La. Ann. 186. Maine: State v. Lawrence, 57 Maine, 574. Massachusetts: Commonwealth v. Rogers, 7 Met. 500; Commonwealth v. Eddy, 7 Gray, 583. Minnesota State v. Hanley, 34 Minnesota, 430. Missouri: State v. McCoy, 34 Missouri, 531; State v. Redemeier, 71 Missouri, 173; State v. Pagels, 92 Missouri, 300; State v. Shaefer, 22 S. W. Rep. 447. Nevada: State v. Lewis, 20 Nevada, 333. New Jersey: State v. Spencer, 1 Zabriskie, 196. North Carolina: State v. Starling, 6 Jones, 366; State v. Vann, 82 N. C. 631; State v. Davis, 109 N. C. 780. Ohio: Loeffner v. State, 10 Ohio St. 598; Bond v. State, 23 Ohio St. 349. Pennsylvania: Commonwealth v. Moler, 4 Penn. St. 264; Ortwein v. Commonwealth, 76 Penn. St. 414; Pannell v. Commonwealth, 86 Penn. St. 260; Commonwealth v. Gerade, 145 Penn. St. 289. South Carolina State v. Bundy, 24 S. C. 439; State v. Alexander,

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