Opinion of the Court. matter of choice whether he become a witness or not, and his failure to accept the privilege "shall not create any presumption against him." This forbids all comment in the presence of the jury upon his omission to testify. Wilson v. United States, 149 U. S. 60. On the other hand, if he avail himself of this privilege, his credibility may be impeached, his testimony may be assailed, and is to be weighed as that of any other witness. Assuming the position of a witness, he is entitled to all its rights and protections, and is subject to all its criticisms and burdens. It is unnecessary to consider whether, when offering himself as a witness as to one matter, he may either, at the will of the government or under the discretion of the court, be called upon to testify as to other matters. That question is not. involved in this case, and we notice it simply to exclude it from the scope of our observations. The privileges and limitations to which we refer are those which inhere in the witness as a witness, and which affect the testimony voluntarily given. As to that, he may be fully cross-examined. It may be assailed by contradictory testimony. His credibility may be impeached, and by the same methods as are pursued in the case of any other witness. The jury properly consider his manner of testifying, the inherent probabilities of his story, the amount and character of the contradictory testimony, the nature and extent of his interest in the result of the trial, and the impeaching evidence in determining how much of credence he is entitled to. It is within the province of the court to call the attention of the jury to any matters which legitimately affect his testimony and his credibility. This does not imply that the court may arbitrarily single out his testimony and denounce it as false. The fact that he is a defendant does not condemn him as unworthy of belief, but at the same time it creates an interest greater than that of any other witness, and to that extent affects the question of credibility. It is, therefore, a matter properly to be suggested by the court to the jury. But the limits of suggestion are the same in respect to him as to others. It is a familiar rule that the relations of a witness to VOL. CLVII-20 Opinion of the Court. the matter to be decided are legitimate subjects of consideration in respect to the weight to be given to his testimony. The old law was that interest debarred one from testifying, for fear that such interest might tend to a perversion of the truth. A more enlightened spirit has thrown down this barrier, and now mere interest does not exclude one from the witness stand, but the interest is to be considered as affecting his credibility. This rule is equally potent in criminal as in civil cases, and in neither is it error for the trial court to direct the attention of the jury to the interest which any witness may have in the result of the trial as a circumstance to be considered in weighing his testimony and determining the credence that shall be given to his story. A reference to a few authorities upon this point may not be inappropriate. In People v. Cronin, 34 California, 191, 195, 204, this instruction was given: "The defendant has offered himself as a witness on his own behalf on this trial, and in considering the weight and effect to be given his evidence, in addition to noticing his manner and the probability of his statements taken in connection with the evidence in the cause, you should consider his relation and situation under which he gives his testimony, the consequences to him relating from the result of this trial, and all the inducements and temptations which would ordinarily influence a person in his situation. You should carefully determine the amount of credibility to which his evidence is entitled; if convincing and carrying with it a belief in its truth, act upon it; if not, you have a right to reject it." This was sustained, the Supreme Court saying: "The instruction of the court in relation to the credibility of the defendant, who offered himself as a witness, was in all respects legal and proper. We do not agree with the learned counsel for the defendant in holding that it is not competent for the court to single out a particular witness and charge the jury as to his credibility. On the contrary, the less abstract the more useful the charge. Jurors find but little assistance in the charge of a judge who deals only in the general and abstract propositions which he supposes to be involved in the case, and leaves the jury to apply them as best they may." A similar Opinion of the Court. instruction was approved in People v. Morrow, 60 California, 142. See also People v. Wheeler, 65 California, 77; People v. O'Neal, 67 California, 378; People v. Knapp, 71 California, 1. In State v. Sterrett, 71 Iowa, 386, 388, this instruction was given in reference to the testimony of the defendant: "He testifies as an interested witness, and from an interested standpoint, and as such you should consider his testimony; and when you do this, with all the surrounding circumstances developed by the evidence, give the testimony such weight, in connection with other evidence in the case, as you think it entitled to, and no more." In respect to it the Supreme Court observed: "But the fact that some interest of the witness is at stake may always be considered in weighing his testimony. If there is a question as to whether he is an interested witness, that question should be submitted to the jury; but, if there is no question as to the facts, the court may properly instruct the jury on the assumption that the interest exists, and may tell them that it should be considered in weighing the testimony. Now, the defendant in a criminal case who testifies in his own. behalf is always an interested witness. It is impossible that it should be otherwise, and there can be no case in which it would not be proper for the jury to consider that fact in weighing his testimony. The court, therefore, properly assumed the existence of the fact, and directed the jury to consider it in determining the weight which should be given to defendant's testimony." In State v. Cook, 84 Missouri, 40, 46, 47, 48, the jury were instructed: "That in determining what weight you give defendant's testimony, you should consider that he is the party accused and on trial in this cause." Objection was made to this on account of the word "should," as being mandatory rather than permissive, but the objection was overruled, the appellate court saying: "If the attitude of the accused, when he takes the witness stand, is in truth different from that of all other witnesses according to our laws, I am at a loss to perceive any error in the court so treating him, and in reminding the jury of such undoubted fact. This, I conceive, the court can do without subjecting itself to the criticism of singling out Opinion of the Court. a witness in its instructions for the purpose of throwing distrust upon his testimony. There can be no such other witness as the accused. The fact of which the jury is thus reminded is one' which they ought to consider; and I am free to say that in my judgment no jury could faithfully discharge its sworn duty who fails to do so." See also from the same State the following authorities: State v. Maguire, 69 Missouri, 197; State v. Zorn, 71 Missouri, 415; State v. McGinnis, 76 Missouri, 326; State v. Elliott, 90 Missouri, 350. In People v. Calvin, 60 Michigan, 113, 123, 124, the trial court charged the jury as follows: "I can't charge you, gentlemen, that you are bound to give the same weight to it that you are to that of a disinterested person. This man testifies as defendant, himself deeply interested, and has a motive for committing perjury or perverting facts which the other witnesses have not. It does not follow, therefore, that you must give the same weight to his testimony that you do to the testimony of any other witness, whether corrobrated or uncorroborated." And the instruction was approved by the Supreme Court, the latter saying: "It was just and proper, in view of the request he had given in which no distinction was made between respondent's testimony and that of any other witness, that the jury should be instructed that in weighing and determining its truth they should take into consideration the interest he must necessarily have in the result of the trial." In Hirschman v. The People, 101 Illinois, 568, 576, this instruction was given: "The court instructs the jury, as a matter of law, that in this State the accused is permitted to testify in his own behalf; that when he does so testify he at once becomes the same as any other witness, and his credibility is to be tested by and subjected to the same tests as are legally applied to any other witness, and in determining the degree of credibility that shall be accorded to his testimony, the jury have a right to take into consideration the fact that he is interested in the result of this prosecution, as well as his demeanor and conduct upon the witness stand and during the trial; and the jury are to take into consideration the fact, if such is the fact, that he has been contradicted by other Opinion of the Court. witnesses. And the court further instructs the jury, that if, after considering all the evidence in this case, they find that the accused has wilfully and corruptly testified falsely to any fact material to the issue in this cause, they have the right to entirely disregard his testimony, excepting in so far as his testimony is corroborated by other credible evidence." And it was approved with this comment: "We do not think that it can be fairly said that this instruction assumes that the defendant is contradicted, for that is expressly left a question to be determined by the jury. The jury were not bound to believe the evidence of the defendant any further than it may have been corroborated by other credible evidence, Gainey v. The People, 97 Illinois, 270, and we perceive no impropriety in saying so to them." A similar instruction was sustained in Rider v. The People, 110 Illinois, 11. In Chambers v. The People, 105 Illinois, 409, the instruction was in this language: "The court instructs the jury, for the people, that they are not bound to believe the evidence of the defendant in a criminal case, and treat it the same as the evidence of other witnesses, but the jury may take into consideration the fact that he is defendant, and give his testimony such weight as, under all the circumstances, they think it entitled to." This also was sustained. Bulliner v. The People, 95 Illinois, 394; Bressler v. The People, 117 Illinois, 422. From other States these authorities may also be noticed: People v. Petmecky, 99 N. Y. 415; Anderson v. The State, 104 Indiana, 467; Haines v. Territory, 3 Wyoming, 168. Until legislation of a recent date this court has had few criminal cases before it, and so has had little occasion to notice the limits to which a court may go in calling the attention of the jury to matters affecting the credibility of the defendant in a criminal case. In Hicks v. United States, 150 U. S. 442, 452, an instruction as to the effect of a conflict between the testimony of defendant and other witnesses was condemned, because of the assumption in it that the other witnesses were "telling the truth." In the same case another instruction, which seemed to press heavily upon the credence to be given to the testimony of the defendant, was referred to in these |