Sparf v. United States

Sparf v. United States
Supreme Court of the United States
Submitted March 5, 1894
Decided January 21, 1895
Full case nameSparf and Hansen v. United States
Citations156 U.S. 51 (more)
15 S. Ct. 273; 39 L. Ed. 343; 1895 U.S. LEXIS 2120
Case history
PriorError to the Circuit Court of the United States for the Northern District of California
Holding
  • If one of two people who have committed murder makes a voluntary confession in front of the other, that confession is admissible against both, however not without the other person witnessing it.
    • A court may not direct the jury to return a guilty verdict.
    • A jury may convict someone of a lesser crime provided the elements of that crime are included in the original offense.
    • A court may instruct the jury to consider guilt only the alleged offenses, in the case of a person accused of murder, rather than any lesser offenses.
    • Juries shall not be informed of their right to decide the law; however this does not prevent them from doing so.
Court membership
Chief Justice
Melville Fuller
Associate Justices
Stephen J. Field · John M. Harlan
Horace Gray · David J. Brewer
Henry B. Brown · George Shiras Jr.
Howell E. Jackson · Edward D. White
Case opinions
MajorityHarlan, joined by Fuller, Field, Jackson, White
ConcurrenceJackson
DissentBrewer, joined by Brown
DissentGray, joined by Shiras
This case overturned a previous ruling or rulings
United States v. Susan B. Anthony (1873)

Sparf v. United States, 156 U.S. 51 (1895), or Sparf and Hansen v. United States, was a United States Supreme Court case testing the admissibility of confessions by multiple defendants accused of the same crime, and the rights of juries.

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