The Arkansas banner., 1850-04-02
THE IIRr NYsrrAf.

I nup alteration in the law which wb recommended by q reasonable chance of beneftao the county; but we are quite unable to keep ece with the restless innovations of the attorney Rneral, and VIC owe m apology for denouncng this lsw measure of his as very needless and miscbepus attack on trial by jury. On what conceivabeEround does he defend this demolition of one-haif f it's scope and esc,7 For q h9Hsand years aad stcards. t has been ss tsefaed maia taisoqrk of Vte justice and popaIay safely. If il be useless in Lf the cases to which it has hitherto been exenae,. how came it to pass that no ore ever found thatont till Str J Jervis brought in this bill this sesspn for it's ionr"
 To this it might be ansJered, that, for at least 1 5o0 years coats of mail wee esteemed necessary instrument of defence; ye the time came when they ceased 10 be and isssed 10 be thought so ahd the fact nf their prevaus repntatiSa was not thought to afford sufficient ground for psTpelna- ting their use For centuries before tho year 1883 lines and recoveries agd for centuries before the l year lSil, terms for years, esteemed main bulwars of safety to the lsnd owner; yet both of those time honored institutions if we SO call them 1 came to end, and land are not The worse l Again; London was, for we know not how many hundred years. without any drainage whatever: and 1 now, for no nconsiderabie time, she has enjoyed ! partially her present subterraneau sewerage. Was 1 it ever a tenabls argument for not giving London | her present sewerage, that sine lad been so long | without any} or is II a teutble argument for not adopting better system of 4werage, that Lon don has for some very long tms been in the habit of relying the present onel
 In truth, Of all arguments tnt at nti3uifafe sim ply Is the most irrational. tn, uos unfit be ad. dressed to men. If any inference could be safely or Justy.drawn from the mer hct of an insiution having remained unchanged for thousand vears it should rather be that it must have ceased to be applicable. than that it is of treat value For as it is unquestiOnahle. that men, at least AngIo-Ssxon men, do not remain staticnay, so that the state of society now s totally ditierea from that of the days of Alfred, il should rather e concluded that inc ! institutions which creaed by, and adapted to- the wants of our rude ioreiahers, are not adapted 10 state of society infnitty more complicated 1 infinitely more refined. In reality, however the 1 argument of antiquity is qIte worthless for any other purpose than that or historical reverence. To show thci an institution hasbeen maintained. bv a | people of any intelligence and energy, for long time, IS certainly argumelt in favor of the pre- suptlon Il possess merit at Sme time, and probably ] for long time otherwise he people would have destroyed it; but, as an agumeDt either for or against it's actual and existing vaiue it is AS we l have said whooiy worthless md delusive and only i it to be addressed 10 persols without education and without reflection.
 1 W ith regard 10 the actuahnd existing merits of the Jury system o trial, we lave on mora than one occasion expressed our opiniN in this journal We hold it 10 be relic of rader imes which it is quite a mistake to perpetuate in or system of adminis. | teriag justice. We are no, here to inouire when ! it was beneficial institution; we assume that it has been so for some given fme but we conceive its value has long been equd to that of fines and recoVeres aud coats of mail in other words what ever it may have been, il hasiong ceased 10 be use tul he difficult that have 10 be decided al this day-and fl is only the eGculi ones that test the efficiency of the IvihunaIAre principally cases complicated both us to the lawand the facts; cases particularly n criminal matteri in which ireuuent-
 " all the mate rial evidence IS ctcunstantia and re- aulring con ,iderabc acumen and knowledge to enable the jary to elicit the tnth Matters inyoI- i wing medical, chencal, aud general scientific knowledge; matters requifiugthe habit of investi- l gation of an educated mind; matters presented to the jury by men of the mosthghIy educated and sharpened nellects, often in mode studiously des. tlned 10 produce mystiicatih-these are the sub Jects on which Juries gre cllen upon to exercise l their functions. And of wht sort ofmen are nries composed? Usually of pers,ns with scarcely sutfi. cent education to understand the ordinary conver- Sa'ionsl language ot educatl men, and quite inca l pable Of any close or acute easoning. But this il will be said is an ohectioi 10 the mode of com. posing lnries not tn ynrlss themselves. l. !s: 5;. we are dealing with the jury system it's exists anu not with an ideal Jury sSten. which it may be l impossible 10 conjure into ,Xistence. But suppos- ing luries 10 be formed ot Hen ofcompetent edlca- iion and intelligence, of wlht Use k such a body al
 
 ground of judge being incapable of collecting the 1 iacts; II that were so, tien jury would be as essential to courts of equity ana bankruptcy as 10 court oi common law To none of which it is thought or found to be necessary. But il is said to De requisite for lhe protection of the pubc-to stand as 1t is called, between the crown aud the subject. To this it may Ie answered, in the first place, that the only sort of case in which there could be any practical necessity, for tho protection | ot subject, for jury te stand between him and the crown, would be political trials; and these may be dismissed with the observation, that, since the 1 Judges have been independent of the crown. the danger is rather the otisr way, of judges leaning towards political offender, from notions of human | ny, or from love of popularity, thing which they may win or lose, tan of leaning towards ihe crown 10 obtain favor of which they are quite in- dependent. In modern times. too, the great power CT pholc opinion, and, ve may add, the higher tone ol individual integrity, combine to make judges shrink from any intentional act of justice.
 Thea with regard to all eAses other than political eases, what IS meantby the jury protecting the sub- JeetY Primd iacIe. the judge can have no more leaning Tor or against one of two coniendIng parties than jury; and if il be said that the syr1pabes of judge may be expected 10 be with the ic her or mofe rehned oi tAe parties, the answer is, that the sympathles of ihe jury may be expected 10 be the other way, and therefore Una, the end which IS pre- tended 10 be sought $ not attained; the object not being that the poor oi the vulgar should nave an unfair advantage, any more than the rich aud the refined. but that ail shah have justice. To this it may be added. that ia ninety Aine cases out of a hundfed neither party is of sufficient note inpor- tance Tor the judge to trouble his head about hm personally; and that there is much less chance ot judge being swayed by personal or local preiudces or affections, than ofs nFy being so swayed, keep. ing particularly in mind that the chances oi wrong bias Nre. as between jury and judge. as twelve 10 one.
 As regards the feelings of the people themselves about jury trial, Il s dcul al present to ascertain "hai they are. The fact that we noticed in oar last nnmt7ef, relating to The small number of cases under the county court jurisdiction in which Tssoti has been bad To jury, is ol significance, as showing, al least, no osetweening reliance on the Jlstlce Of luries as compared to that oi judges in considerable class o Her Majesty's ltisaats II IS, of course, net conclusive. Another fact of great importance as regards the views, of ligsas ot the weather knd, may bs Dotlced, viz, that ih all the compalpts ihat the public make against the court ot ehaneery, no one has thought cf including complaint that it is not provided with jagiss ,o try it's facts.
 We believe that in almost all cases aHectins