Doubt in Favour of the Defendant, Guilty Beyond Reasonable Doubt For instance, regarding the 1783 trial of John Clarke, who was charged with murder, The Old Bailey Sessions Papers provide a short summary of the indictment and transcripts of the testimony of several witnesses. At the end of the trial, the judge summed up the evidence and advised the jury: It is there four[sic] for you to consider gentlemen, first whether, you are clearly satisfied with the truth of the evidence, and the result of the whole evidence taken together, the prisoner is the man the deceased that wound; … unless you are satisfied clearly from the evidence, that he has the actual occasion of the man’s death, he is not guilty of murder…. If from all these circumstances you are clearly satisfied that the wound was the cause of his death, and are also clearly satisfied with the truth of the rest of the evidence and that the result of that evidence is proved clearly to your satisfaction, that the prisoner is the man that gave the wound … in that case be your duty to find the prisoner guilty of this indictment: If on the other hand you think there is any room to doubt the truth of the evidence, or that believing the truth of the evidence is not sufficient proof… in that case, it is your duty to acquit the prisoner wholly... Therefore, give your verdict according to your own consciences, you must be clearly satisfied... If on the other [hand] you think there is any reasonable cause for doubt, either upon the fact of his warning the man or of the wound being the cause of his death, you will acquit him.212 The language of this jury instruction does not make it clear whether the reasonable doubt standard had become the rule of law. The terms “clearly satisfied” and the reference to “consciences” resemble what scholars labeled as the early satisfied conscience standard. Regarding the truth of the evidence, the judge warns of “any room to doubt.” Regarding the finding of guilt or innocence, the judge speaks of “reasonable cause for doubt,” which doubtfully is a synonym for proof beyond a reasonable doubt. In the 1783 trial of John Higginson, who was charged with theft and embezzlement, the judge summed up the evidence and advised the jury: In almost every case that comes before you, there is a strict possibility where the positive fact itself is not proved by witnesses, who saw the fact, there is a strict possibility, that somebody else might have committed it: But that the nature of evidence requires, that Juries should not govern themselves, in questions of evidence, that come before them, by that strictness, is most evident, for if it were not so, it is not possible that offenders of any kind should be brought to Justice. Where there is reasonable probability, that notwithstanding the appearances a man may be innocent, it is very fair to make use of them: But if it goes further, and if there 212 44 Trial of John Clarke, The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, Ref: T17831210-4 (emphasis added).