The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-03-15 00:00:00

THE LONDON PRESS.

(FROM THE MORNING HERALD.)

At a time when civil justice in Ireland is about to sur-
render her scales and sword into the hands of military
power, it may seem like a mockery to talk of a projected
reform of the Irish Jury system ; nevertheless, as the
question has been brought under the notice of Parliament
by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, concurrently with
the Bill for establishing military tribunals, it may be
worth while to say a few words on the subject. If the
scarlet coat of armed authority is ever again to be dis-
placed by the judicial ermine, it will be of great import-
ance to the future peace and welfare of Ireland, that the
machinery of the Constitutional Courts should be so far
improved as to inspire the people with greater confidence
than they ever yet have had in the pure and impartial
administration of justice.
It is difficult to treat of any question touching the re-
form of civil institutions in Ireland without entangling
it with political considerations. In that country, for cen-
turies past, the administration of justice has been made
but too subservient to party feelings and political pur-
poses, to allow even the Jury system to be discussed on
its own merits, free from the disturbing influence of party
excitement, or the taint of political prejudice. Yet, next
to giving the people of Ireland regular employment, or
a well-contrived system of poor laws, is the necessity of
so remodelling the institutions of justice that the abuses
which have prevailed ever since the English laws were
introduced into that country, may not continue to be
among those grievances whiCh make a " repeal " of the
Union popular.
In the recent charge of Baron Smith to the Grand
Juicy at the Assizes of Louth he highly eulogised the
sound judgment and discretion with which the Sheriff for
the time being always exercises his power in constituting
the panel from which the Petty Juries for the trial of cri-
minal cases are selected. He praised the system itself in
all its parts. It is a system, however, which, although
standing high in the estimation of Irish Judges, and
lauded by Law Officers of the Crown as one of the best
of all possible contrivances, is certainly not the Jury sys-
tem of the British Constitution.

We would separate this subject from politics altogether
—and, looking at the construction of Juries as merely
part and parcel of the judicial system, we ask on what
principles of fair dealing or impartiality is it that the
Crown exercises the power in Ireland of setting aside
Jurors almost without limitation as to number, while in
capital felony, where the life of the prisoner is at stake,
he can peremptorily challenge no more than twenty ?
Such a practice, which is in contravention of all notions
of equal justice, as well as a violation of the principles
of British law, is of itself sufficient proof of the imper-
fection of the Jury system in Ireland. It would not be
difficult, we think, in any case of treason or felony,
where the Crown was anxious for a conviction, to wield
this power of making all Jurymen " stand by" who might
not be thought subservient enough, in such a way as to
secure, from a panel of two or three hundred names,
twelve men more ready to do the sanguinary work of a
bad Government than to observe the sanctity of their
oaths, or respect the lives or liberties of their fellow-
citizens. Let us only imagine such a monstrous power
claimed by the Crown in England, as that which in one
instance stated by Mr. O'Connell, set aside 132 Jurors
without showing cause, and would it not be received as
an attempt to reduce the people of England to the lowest
state of civil bondage and debasement ? If the Union is
to be realised such degrading distinctions must cease to
exist.