The National Register. — London, England, 1821-08-05 00:00:00

mite, z ----- .. ‘! 14 SELECTION OF SPECIAL JURORS. " If selection be packin.2., - said one of the Judges of tlic King's Bench (when a new trial was moved for on ac e,•ilot of the Jury having as was asserted been unfairly " the Master of the Crown Office has right to pack," and as long as that right be recognized, we con tend that a fair and constitutional " Trial by Jury'can not he looked for—the following Report throws enlist deraide light on the present principle, and by it, it ap 'wars that Imo)! twt ref a are necessary—on the pre -5:111 system an administratiim has interfered to obtain a picked Jury—that they did not succeed was owing to the existence of more honesty on the part of the Master than his successor may possess. Report of the special committee appointed to examine the books and lists of per,ons qualified to serve on juries in and for the city of London. To the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty of the City of London, in Common antembled. We whose 11:IMfli ale hereunto subscribed, your special committee, to whom, oil the 17th of Jiffy, Inl7, it was referred to examine the hooks and Lists of Persons qualified to serve on Juries in and fur the City of London, and to repoi t thereon— Do eel tity, That iii pursuance of the above references wrr felt it our duty minutely to inquire into the composi tion of the book from which Special Juries have been t.• I nt k, as also carefully to investigate the mode in which it bus been constituted, the principles of the law upon which it was founded, together with the manner in which fie alias►er in the Crow•n•olfice, and the Master on the Plea side on the Court of King's Bench have proceeded to nominate juries therefrom, in causes connected with the Government of the country, and those to which the Crown has been a party : That, in order to facilitate their inquiries, your com mittee requested the attendance of one ut• the Secondaries of this city, Samuel Collinridge, Esquire, who produced to and left with your committee such of the several lists of special juries as were in his possession, which had been returned to his office fur the purpose of causing the several jurors, therein mentioned, to be summoned to try the issues joined in the Court of King's Bench anti Com mon Pleas, which were to be heard and determined at the sittings after the several terms of Hilary, Easter, and Trinity, last past. That if appears to your committee, from the best in formation they have been enabled to obtain, that the practice of nominating special juries from a book con taining a limited number of statues, has existed for many years, unsanctiened, however, by any statute or pre scriptive custom. It further appears, that the said book has been con structed according to the discretion or caprice of the acting secondary for the time being, who had theretofore claimed and exercised the right of placing upon and re -11101, ing f the said list such names as he thought pro per, ptolessing to be regulated by the recommendatiou of other special jurymen, of some attorneys, and of the sheriffs; which recommendation, however, lie considered himself authorized to follow, or to dispense with at plea sure. And your committee is apprehensive, from the evidence brought before them, that this power ha, been sometimes used for the gratification of prejudices, and not always with that impartiality which ought to charac terize the administration of a public functimiary. That your committee have carefully examined the said special jury hunk, and for the purpose of better ac yrninting themselves with the qualifir ations, as jurors, of the several persons whose names appeared therein, di rected Mr. Town Clerk to send lists of such names to the deputies of• the Common Council of the several wards, requesting them to make inquiries as to the residence and profession of the several persons stated to reside therein ; and having received returus trout the whole, your coin suittee now submit the result of the information afforded by such returns, and their inquiries respecting the Sallie j fit which they pat tieuially In to draw the attention of your honourable court. Although it is obvious, that within the city of London there must be an immense number of persons who arc eligible to serve on special Julies, your honourable court wiil be no less surprised than your committee %sire, to find that the said book con tains only dtia 11.1111 es, from whom all the jurors are se lected. That out of that untidier there arc no less than 226 who arc not householder• within the• city of London, and of e iiir.e disqualified to serve. That the remaining 259 are the whole of the household ers whose names are in the said I k. That out of this number of householders there are of those, isa the modern acceptation of the term, mer chants btl .%nd ul 1110,4; usually billed lladeameu, hut weiclialuib 17, Your committee has been thus been particular in stat ing the residence and 4trofession of the parties, whose Times ate thus placed on the special jury book, or list so called, not for the purpose of proving that the accidental distineWasi bufweeis merchants and tradesineu can at all airect the illegibility of the pat ties, but to show that the practice of a special Silty being compiaeil ekclusively of Merchants, which has hero the alleged plea for the past practice, is as unfoutided iti fact ns it is aileily misty purtestby any principle of law. Phut awing the smote. site' the let Mt hefoie alluded to, it nppeath that by Mr. ColialigiLlgt... ICIUI Us, that the jowls for the filial . of 114 causes acre summoned, an open& which occupied part of 3i days : and that during that period, oat of the cud 'lumber of 4r45 a hose snores 11 , 1 e in the I k, '2.4 only %mete aummnuttl , aad they in the felloa log pi (.• pni i low TETE NATIONAL REGISTER once 2 ..• • .... 23 timett .... hut twice S ..; 24 . 3 time. I 25 6 .... 10 2 Si 6 .... 12 4 .... 17 6 .... .... IS 2 .... 21 uuJ 2 .• • • .... 87 28 97 1 .... .... 55 That it appears by toe evidence adauced to your commit tee, Ihit the master of the (:roue ()dice, and the person officiating as Master on the Plea Side of the Court of King's Broch, have availed theinselv.s of the limited extent of the Special Jury Book, and of the circumstance of its having beeu out of the custody of the Sherill, and held in the hands of the °dicers of the Court for weeks together, so us to ac quaint themselves with its contents. us may have enabled them to make a selection dea ructive of the purity of" Trial by Jury," and highly injurious to the personal liberty of the subject. That your committee having understood from one of the clerks of the secondaries, that some important information li might he obtained from a Mr. I). Walker, then and for many years previously, a cl e rk in the Secoodary's Office, and who was confined by illness to his room, and is now no more, di rected one of its Members to wait upon him, and take a pro prrly authenticated report of his dying test' y; by which it appears that application had been made by the solicitor of the Treasury to know the political sentiments of a jury appointed to try a cause to which the Croon was a party; That Mr. Collingridge being then trim home, the messenger disclosed to the said Mr. Walker the of of his mission; and in cobsequenee of this information, your committee again examined Mr.Cullhytidge, wboalthough he had pre viously denied all knowledge of such or airy other coinattu nication from the solicitor to the Treasury, or any pt rson on his behalf, was compelled to admit that be had received a letter or letters from the said solicitor to the Ticasury, re lative to some jury appointed to try an is-ue joined between the Crown and an individual for libel: he could not, how. ever inform your committee the date of such application, the partit ular care, sr jury, to which it alluded, nor the subject to which it referred; your co iiiiii Bice therefore, front the circumstance of the said letter having been destroyed, added to the defective memory of a responsible officer of your Hu unto able Court, is unable to disclose the contents of a docu ment, as appears to your committee, alike reprehensible and important. . . . That your committee have examined various acts of par liament and other documents relative to the qualiiicatinus, the mode of nontionting and appointing of jurors in general, and of special juries in particular ; and now tike lease to animal to your honourable eau'( the result of their labours, as futuishin: the basis of an arrangement which your com mittee w ill have to propose to the adoption of the Court, as the means best calculated to prevent the administration of the jurisprudence of that city from being placed in the laiods ot persons who may a court to It for (hair private emolument; and to present an effectual barrier to the encroachments of the crown upon the liberty of the subject, through the me dium of the must glorious of our institutions " the Trial by Jury.' It appeats to your committee that the corporation of the city of London have immemorially exercised the inestimable privilege of regulating the le of 111111 l i l luting mid vu 1111 l ton al their freemen as jurors to serve in and for the city, .thout acknowledging nay folcign influence, or bring Ml6* ject to any control, excepting as regards the qualification of the person so to be nominated and appointed, which has been from time to time settled ano determined by divers acts of the Parliament of England, as by a reference to the said acts will more fully appear. Hy an act of the said Parliament made anti passed in the II ib year of the reign of King Henry V I 1., the qualification of citizens to be returned to serve on trials it a petty nature in the Courts of the said city, wits fixed and deternatted at 40 marks in lands, tenements, or goods and chattels, and the qualification of citizens to be returned in like man ner to serve in the said Coots on actions in which the qucation at issue was of n greater value than 40 marks, was Sized at 100 marks also in hods, tentaneuts, or goods and chattels; and by an act of Parliament made and passed iii the tomtit year of the reign of King Henry VIII., ca 3, it was enacted, " That the Sheriffs of the city of Lowly° should return in panels nod at rays in all actions depending or to dep,tid in any of the King's courts before himself in his bench, and before his just ices of the common bench, and also in his exchequer, pet AIMS being citizens, baying goods to the value of 100 marks und above, to try the issues joined within the said city, and that such jurors should be duly sworn to try the sa u ce; " w hich said act was further coo ezpl: al and enfoiced, by a cei tails other act of Parliament made and passed in the 5111 year of the reign of lain.; Henry VIII., cap. 5, and by a certain act of the nil) or, alder men, and lily of the said city, made and passed 00 16rY0t6 day tifJattuary, in the I I Ili year of king Henry VIII., divers t egolations wile made and enacted tor her purpose of giving ellect to the said recited tat of l'a. Insolent, and for the purpose of regulating and (allot e wog uue and proper returns of all the citizens within the said city duly qualified under and by virtue of the said acts of Pat Influent, to serve tin juries ins and for the sante, and for the regular summoning and empancling of juries as well for the said courts of the stud city, as for the it ails at Nisi Prius, and inquiries fur (lie Mug, to be had and livid within the MU', and in and by the said act' iti the cuss toil) of the Town Clerk of the city, will enure fully and at large appear. Th it by the 7th and lath of William 111.. chap. 31, sect. 41, it was enacted, that all constables and tithing men sl Id make annually, lists of all pet bout mot o r their district, qua. Idled to serve us puma within Ike a minty, and that t hey should return them to the sheriff of such county, and that all juries ap; ted a atom the said county should be taken theiefroan, subject to inch penaltiea for default as therein arc nieuttoned. 2:)9 That this hook, so issai!e ont, and returned to the sheriff, received the name of, and Iva, cntted, the Freeholder's Book, because the qualifications for ,jurors for counties was the possession of ten p,,,, pee annum, iu freehold or copy hold ;novelty ; and that on that account, it was to culled, - ,:..-.- .. ... and lias since continued to bear the same name; although ha setts( quent leg idolise enactments, the names of certuiti lease!' riders are •iisetted indiscriminately a ith freeholders. t Here follows copious extracts from 3d Cewge 11. cap. 23. on the appointment of Juromi That, after an attentive perusal of the said act, your committee can bat deduce the following observations as embracing the ma • terial features connected with the subject of the reference, and as pointing out the only particulars is which the law as it before existed was altered in relation to the subject of the present in • quit'. First,—lt increased the number of persons qualified to serve on juries in counties, by adding to the Freeholders' Book a class of persons therein designated, who had been before excluded ; and it prescribed certain formalities relative to the construction and versification thereof. 2dly,—lt operated as a restrictive statute in reference to the city of London, by increasing the qualifications of a juror from too marks to tool. and rendered it essential that he should be a householder within the said city, which was not before necessary. idly,—lt gave the institution of special juries, which existed before by customs! only, a legislative sanction , and made the rule for such jury demandable as a matter of .ight, whereas it was before dependent upon the will of the Court, to which an application was made. Your committee is therefore of opinion, that the said act of Parliament made and passed in the fourth year of the reign of King Ilenry the Eighth, cap. Et, is now valid and effectual, and that the qualification of a juror of this city, mentioned in the 2d sect. thereof, is in full force and virtue, save only so far as the same is limited and altered by the 19th section of the act so made and passed in the thiid year of King George II ; and that there. fore no person ought to be returned on any jury for the city of London, to try any issue joined in the superior courts, unless lie be a citizen of London, and a householder within the said city, possessed of lands tenements, or personal estate, to the value of Its All of which we submit to the judgment of this honourable court. Dated this 11th day of December, 1817. ROISEHT WAITIIMAN. CHARLES PEA 'SON. J. DUIICOAIBE. SANII7EI. FAVELL. Motion.—That this court do agree with the committee in their said report, and that it be referred back to the said umomittee, to report if any and what measures should be adopted to rectify the evils complained of. Anscadotent.—That the consideration thereof be adjourned; and that in the mean time the said report be printed in the notes of the proceedings, and a copy thereof sent to every member of this court. Amend»tent negatived. Original Motion put and Resolved in the affirmative. Accounts have been received at Copenhagen from Christianburgh, the principal of the Danish settle. ments on the coast of Guinea. It appears that Major Staffens, the Military Commandant of that statim, has recently had occasion to put in force, in a very marked manner, the rigorous orders he has received from his Government, to prevent every sort of traffic in slaves. A Portuguese slave vessel, supported by another vessel of the same class, but well armed, made its appearance before Thamma, a town under the Danish sovereignty, with the intention of making some purchases there of slaves. Major Staffens im mediately occupied the place with one thousand men, and made the Portuguese captain and a part of his crew prisoners. The Major has sent them to Sierra Leone for trial. We arc sorry to add, that two Englishmen were seized at the same time, for participating in the diabolical traffic ; they had been delivered to the Commander of the English fort of St. James, and will, it is said, be sent to London to be tried. The Chief of the town is supposed to have had a secret understanding with the slave merchants. —The vessel which accompanied the Portuguese trader, and which is said to have been Dutch, effected its escape. TWE ROMAN BRIDGE IN HOLLAND:-.-ThC Ro man bridge, which was discovered, at Groningen, in Holland, in 1818, is now wholly cleared from the turf with which it is surrounded. It is three miles long and 1:2 feet broad. It laid by the fifteenth cohort of Germanicus, over the marshes, in which deep has of turf have since been formed, and, in all probability gradually sunk under the marsh by its own weight. The ruinous particles which are in the marshy soil have probably contributed to preserve the bridge, which is entirely of wood. Every six feet there were posts to support the railing, as may be judged by the holes in which they were fixed.— This great work, which consists of a judicious number of beams, appears to have been wrought with very large axes ; the workmanship is admirable. In a late Gazette, among the military promotions, the name of Ensign Fletcher is advanced to a Lieu tenancy in the Guards by purchase. This is the son of that Fletcher who absconded when charged with the horrible crime of printing and circulating the most insidious provocations to rebellion, and impu. tint; them to the Reformers. The young man bears an unimpeached character, and he has found friends, as his promotion is by purchase. As the Lord Mayor of London has not been made a Baronet, in consequence of the Coronation, it is probable that the honour will not be conferred on the Lord Mayor of Dublin. In the list of Baronets published in Saturday's Gazette, there is, however, Sir R. Shaw, Bart. member for the city of Dublin. LISDON, Jun - 11.—The committee of commerce has given in its report upon the treaty of commerce with England in 1803 and 1806. It concludes, that as the duties on Portugal wines were fixed at the same rate us those of ranee, unit had always continued so, although the woollens received from England, under the same treaties, had been reduced from SO to 15 per cent. it was advisable in future to exact the duty of 30 per cent. as formerly. •