Judge to sign and seal bill of exceptions tendered.Sect. 196. In the trial of any person or persons for any crime or misdemeanor, it shall be the duty of the judge before whom such trial is pending, to sign and seal any bill of exception tendered to the court during the progress thereof: Proviso.Provided, The truth of the case be fairly stated in such bill of exception; and thereupon the said exceptions shall, by the clerk of the said court, be entered in the record of such trial, and become, to all intents and purposes, a part thereof.
Party in criminal prosecution relieved by writ of error, how.Sect. 197. The party aggrieved by manifest and material error, appearing of record, in any capital prosecution by indictment, may be relieved by writ of error upon complying with the following terms, to wit: The party complaining that error has been committed, shall obtain a certified copy of the record from the clerk, and from the judge of the district court, or from the person who acted as prosecuting attorney on the trial, a certificate expressive of an opinion that said record contains a full and true history of the proceedings on said trial; which record, together with an assignment of the errors relied on for the reversal of the judgment, shall be presented to the supreme court, or to one of the justices thereof in vacation; and if after inspection of such transcript, the court or justice aforesaid shall be of opinion that there is reasonable cause for allowing a writ of error, the same shall be granted, by order indorsed on the back of said transcript. The allowance of such writ of error shall be sufficient authority to the clerk of the supreme court, to issue a supersedeas to stay the execution of the sentence of death, but not the discharge of the prisoner from jail. Where any judgment, the execution whereof has been stayed by writ of error, as aforesaid, shall be affirmed, the supreme court shall, by order, fix the time when the original sentence of death shall be executed, a copy of which order shall be sufficient authority to the sheriff for the execution of any prisoner therein mentioned, at the time specified.
Writs of error in criminal cases not capital.Sect. 198. Writs of error in all criminal cases not capital, shall be considered as writs of right, and issue of course; but no writ of error shall be a supersedeas, unless the supreme court, or one of the justices thereof, in vacation, after inspecting a copy of the record, certified as in the preceding section, together with an assignment of the errors relied on for a reversal of the judgment, shall be of opinion that there is