It is not essential to due process of law that in criminal causes the accused shall be confronted at the time of trial with the witnesses against him. This is specifically required by the Sixth Amendment in the federal courts, but in West v. Louisiana24 it is held that the Fourteenth Amendment does not lay this obligation upon the States. In this case the court admitted a deposition of a witness not present at the trial, but which had been given at a preliminary examination at which the accused was present and had had an opportunity to cross-examine.25