New-York tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1841-1842, 1842-04-06
Judge Lynch,r Charge to the Grand 1ury.

Judge aynch-s Charge to the Grand Iary
COURT OF SESSIONS.-Monday Aprilf
In conformity establish usage, well as he require
duiS OF tii
Court address you the Grand Jury of ,i- County on
be matter, within your cognzGnce and The nature OF yo
duiic>
The oath which you have taken bret compendium ~
YOUR duues, and as nanyoi YOU have been before on a
Graadl ury whom recognise would seem superiuous 20
e1paate detail upon them. The organization Of Gram
Iures and their course OF proceeding admirably a1ai
cd 10 Tie purposes tor whiei they We're lns'utcn
from the body OF the county, they required IN .c a.
,lac. OF the statute to becomposed Of men Of .ppre."
we Your duty to present every person who shall b.
proved satisfaction TO be guilty OF cine, h
lore YOU to shield the innocent from the attacks OF ua
ntY and prejudice; while 10 you lhe c4n',nu, .o' ms,
present all OF violation OF the laws that oteHncrs 'no,
tired and punished yeur ud cement, discretion at'
caution the well ordered citizen relies as shela LOT pro-
lection against grouudicss charges and accusations
The Court are required by statute especially to charse
yon inquire INTO all violations OF ;,sr,,
numbers ilerein and advertising The sale OF tickets
q The for The prevention OF fires in The City OF er
York which regulate ;hc construction OF buildings WITHIN
the ire limits
s. lc law for the prevention and punishment, Of usury.
which makes misdemeanor 10 take more titan per
cent for the loan Of money.
Laws the purity OF elections and 10 punish
That it's nis,lcncanor for any member OF the Grand
Jury 1--WE Information thai, bill OF inicmcn, fer feony
found against person who not in custody bail
Tic Grand July whose session terminated! the Sd %
Marcha llalc .resenment which among other ,hn
was stated that authorised agent Of the Governpclit
had loosely exercised the authority vested in him IN
Of Habcas Corpus that the hardened
caPc, and that reckless exercise had tended neutral
re The efforts o III. Police and 10 vres ;rsn the hands VI
n.;!fe individuals uaqueStlon1bly guilty OF high offences
This Cour, titse called upon the best
rs power dcdDcc practical benefit from that pre-
senifeot u, al TIC charges general, and no pecca
p ni any one OF particular instances OF the abuse
sfierred TO was given and person indicated as e
alluded 10. the Court ware at loss how 10 rive any
practical eiecti it however, the charges had tendcuc
70 impair the confidence OF the public in the members
SeJudicary, ibis city, ard tie Court was bound
q rcspec 10 body which Is deservedy held in such high
,tnauon this community as the Strand Jury, TO suppose
that some evidence had been adducc before Them 10 Undue
them make such grave charges this Court 'has nslitu
Ted al enquiry and the result has been that they
anppor the charges there preferred, or either of theu
ms Court invite your action upon this subject and r.
commend, II you should have before you any proofs suin
cent to arragn the conduc ofany individual after making
proper allowance for errors OF judgement mistakes
The name OF that individual together with the proofs before
g paa 10 s Court which will promptly give 10 The matter
duv III Is 70 take cognizance thereof.
Inc calendar OF persons in charged With crime
unusually small! and the number of complaints which i,
only is believed the number returned a,
any term for many years The District Attorney will lay
lie magistrates for Your action and viii attend YOU when
ever YOU think proper TO call upon him for advice he VIII
also subpona for all coning
yon.
Formany years past has been Of universal
plant that he administration uSicein the criminal courts
Dtl city has been highly imperfect; and the Honorable
Richard Rker who filed the Office of Recorder for many
wears with distinguished ability gave it as his decided op
ION, shorltine before he left the Bench that
say that organization of this should take place
all agree at SERIOUS rys existed out they Rave moi been
have been various, and this the
the serious attention OF the municipal authorities.
Iwould not comport with what deem myself authorised
to present YOU on this OCCASION to go into recaptua,n
OF all the evils which existed and complained Of and
The corrections OF hem which have taken place since tie
reorganization OF this court; but beg leave 10 ask your
attention while state some OF ,hem which have an ,mnef'
ate connection auth the business Of the Grand Jnry and
while show, bya comparative saichenl Of the proceei- !
ngs in tins Courts the change which has already taken places
for past errors hut TO congratulate the Grand Jury when
shown that errors corrected that they are now relieved
from much lrueS labor and that the labor they do perform
is rendered more eilectual than heretofore.
For number OF years previous TO 1910 the number a
complaints lay the Magistrates this Court exceeded
1000 per anu and Of these less in any year than 22to
and in years considerably above 3000 acted
office 1t must he obvious that there gea, and unne
GeSay expense TO the City, that large proportion Of those
complaints must have been groundles and that the citizens
who were uniusy compelledto answer must have been
gr!evously baraSscd.
The attention Of the Judges OF tins Coutwas particularly
called this evil weui, became their duty to the
proceedings of the Police Magistrates cases brought be-
fore them habeas corpus and they asceained that it
ceeded from tie loose and caree.s i'll WHICH
plants investigated in the Police Office in consequence
o, which persons were committed or bail taken
complaints that frivolous entirely groundles and
sometimes even whoutany charge being made upon OATH
The review Of those proceedings became the suffice, OF
much discussion Some nneasness manifested what
was termed an Improper Interference with interruption
Of the action Of the Police Magistrates butt am happy
form you that they were adnlonscd by the sauary review
and control which exercised their proceedings and
have materially improved in their action that 10y pro-
per investigation aud scrutiny OF complaints, they
turn such only upon careful consideration they deem
be welloundcd and proper lorjudicia cognizance.
The consequence has been that the number Of complaints
which previous 1910 1000 and upwards per annu.
reduced in l5il 2O0 and in the first three months
1912 the oony about 1905 per annun and that Tie,
number OF complains acted upon by the Grand jury
which previous TO 1910 had been 1900 per annln
uced 1871 $50. the three months the
rale of only $50 per
We are not permitted TO conclude that this falling of in
the number OF complaints is attended by dimnu,on OF
trials i'll 1889 $780, and convictions 2o9 whereas in 1871
the number OF trials was 1853 and convictions Sslan
81 upwards OF % per cent, and in thu first three months o
l842 the number OF trials was lf2Gs per ann'an excess
OF nearly 30 per cent
You will thus perceive gentlemen what relief 10 the
Grand Jury has been effected instead having from three
10 tour hundred per month for acton, the nun
Der now but littlo exceeds one hundred.
Other than the one have stated have probably
contributed TO produce this important result and among
theis lave no hesitation in saving AT the progress oil inc
progress OF the Temperance Reform has hntl most pow
fu effect in reducing tue number oil crimes OF lower grades
Twill now proceed to call Your attention 10 tac,S ieaS 10
show that the abors OF the Grand Jury who mad oils OF m
t!ctment rendered more cicctual than heretofore
soon mer t = oa s who
punishment considerably larger than the whole
number tried and persons who rely upon the information
contained newspapers would really conclude that
The evil the increase; II we are not
s,uch mistaken conclusion from the facts am about
10 state we think that most surprising Improvement has
already been made and that the number OF persons inc
who escape trial Is very small and IN those cases
generally their forfeited recoShsAaees "' o
prosecuted
This Court having ascerained that in 1889 number OF
responsiveness forfeited and ordered be prosecuted
46o and 1910 i57, very few any. OF which chs'
the defendants acrward appeared TO stand TRIAL! ten i!s'
bound 10 investigate the cause such defeat oil the ends
.. iuslce and soon found that proceeded the insult
cheney bail and line loose which bal! was TAX
IN i r]ice Office we found persons OF little or no rCspo
>bilv acting general bal-nastcrS for small premium
in each aud that Justification OF bail taken IN >u,h
that there means OF dc;ccn: those WHO
justified falsely We feel warranted IN saying the bail WIS
utterly Insufficient because appears by the Report OF
JON, Special Committee of the Common Council bearing
lplY N