Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1851-12-25
Law Reform---Jury Trials.

several years past. in England and in our own
country in relation to Constitutional and Lac
reforms This has led to the remodeling of
the Constitutions of several of the States of our
Union. ard to the revision. and in some in
stances, radical reform of the practice and ad-
ninistrarion of law.
All this is IN conformity with the advance Of
the times-the progress of the age. There is
no reason why the customs of past ages. upon
which much of our common law is based,
should forever govern us in our civil actions.
any more than that the rude and half civilized
ideas that have prevailed in early stages of So
ciety, should always be endorsed sonnd. !;
The mu1rieil al law of our country. which is
no more no less than the rule of civil conduct
adopted by our people, is comprised in the
common lao of the land and the statute iato.-
The former like mother tongue, was hand
ed down to us from our mother Countrywide
latter has resulted from and is more than
the will of the people expressed through their
representatives in the Legislative capacity :
Now, while statute lac is the subject of coniin-
ual modification and revision, to conform to
tie ever changing interests and views of socie
ty. the common la,c is considered as immma5le
like the laws of the Modes and Persians, IN
alteyable. 7 cause of this is, that much of
it is founded in reason-nay, is admitted 10 be
the perfection of human reasoning, and is con-
sequently unaffected by tie lapse of time but
it by no means f llows that az our common
law partakes of the same degree Of excellence.
Indeed, ex perience teaches US that this is not
SO, as we occasionally discard one and another
OF the oil dogmas that have come down TO US
with the prestige of immemorial usage stamped
upon them.
Among the customs adopted from the moth
er county. connected with the administration
of the law. is tina, OF the trial by Jury. This
is species of trial generally admitted by civil
lzed nations, to be not only the safest and
most approved method of determining ques-
tions concerning private rights and public
wrongs. but also political privilege of the
highest and most inestimabe nature. There
were. anciently, various species or modes of
trials-(some of which are preserved at this
da,)-by record. by ,nspe ction, elimination.
by certoGts, by witnesses, by eager Of battle, by
ioager Of faar. and lastly, by Jury. The six for
mer OF these were only had in special OF &C.
centrical cases while the latter has always
been considered the principal and safest critic
rion of truth known to the law of England
Sir m. Blackstone the celebrated common
tator on the laws of England, says ''ihat It has
been used time out of mind in that country,
and that it seems to have been coeval with the
first CIV! government thereof -"
Notwithstanding that the trial By Jury has
been generally considered as the principal bull
wark of constitutional liberty, it has been the
subject Of severe attack, of late years, by the
writers on constitutional and law reform, both
in England and in our own country. 1t is
objected to as an uncertain and inferior mode
Of settling important legal issues-the argu-
ment being that twelve ignorant or uninformed
men in the law are no better qualified to settle
controverted queslions-some of which require
the incest discrimination to decentralization a
single individual of the same capacity, and that
as no man of intelligence would be willing to
submit an important point to such person
for settlement so there would be no propriety
in adding score OF such persons to the single
man, SO far as the correct decision of the mat
ter should be concerned.
Another objection to the operation of this
species of trial, is found in the administration
of laws which are not universally acquiesced
in by the public. No matter how small the
dlsaf.ction against any law, if single disaf-
fectcd erson gets on the Jury panel, he exer-
cises the power of nullitying the law. Our
attention has been called to this subject by the
following remarks from the Louisville (Ky.)
Journal ... ..r..- ...-f I'D. -... DEL.
Last week we heard citizen of one of the
extreme southern States, very intelligent
man, and member of the Union party, say
that much depends in the South upon the re-
suits OF the pending trials at the North of
the persons engaged in the lutte rescues of flu
gitive slaves from the hands of the legal au-
thorities. He said that If The persons indicted
failed to he convicted and punished. the feel
Ing at the South in favor OF separation from
the North viii be greatly deepened and extend
ed-that in fact the people of the South will
conciuls that the sooner they are separated
from the North the better.
Now we agree thar the persons engaged in
the rescue OF the fugitive slaves ought to be
convicted and punished, and We most earnest
~ nope they will be. ye' say without hest
tation that we have very little expectation of
such result. The case is one of those in
which the system of jury trial secures the al
most certain escape OF the offenders with i'm
punlty The great mass. probably ive-sixths
or nlne-tenths of the people of the North
would be in favor of the conviction of the Sy-
racuse rioters, If the testimony should prove
the;r guilt, yet there is fraction of the popu-
lation, abolitionists, who would be opposed to
'heir conviction, no matter what the testimony
might Lc f.i - -.'
:, Now, in the emrannclling of juries, the priv
re- mat belongs 10 the defendant of percr p
eoa,'s challenging certain number OF names
sNes nun great advantage and if the charge
s. "ee hi'n Is that of aiding in the rescue of a
shave, he will ALWAYS or at least in
' :" .aseS out OF twenty. be able, in such
1."i"u''i'S rs That at the North, to secure a
M -, uF'ii 'he jury, certainly one or two
that VIII never hermit a ve,d,ct m he rendar.d
against LIN. We have no belief whatever that
the syracuse rioters will be convicted. hut #
they are permitted to go free, their esra,,s
growing, as it will, out of the na,nro - IL
Jnry system and the perverted feelings Of q
very small proportion oil community. should
create neither desperation nor surprise at the
South" 't s'- i'ali' 3al1 :
There is much truth in this reasoning, as is
demonstrated by some of the trials that have
already occurred at the North. 1t would be
hardly possible to find jury empanneIled in
any OF the free States but that would contain
one or more individuals in it, who would not
take the respunsibilifx of oxar;s;v, -,,b, \ a