Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1851-03-29
CuIieS.

SuIIcS.
Almost every citizen is liable to be summon
cd us il Juror. Therefore every one 50 Liable
| is bound to enquire into the duties imposed
upon him by such liability. "Am qualified.
intellectually and morally for 4 jury box! DO
! | understand tie duea which ucyoly4 upon
me when there: Wien sworn rs Juror do |
! fally understand my oath Fully understand
what it imposes upon me! 1t do not, am
not delinquent to the community in negectng
! to learn !! Does my position as Juror make me
! Judge of the law If SO do | understand the
/ law sufficiently TO be Il competent Judge ltso,
do understand tie principles and rules by
! which my Judgment must be guided If know
not all this, yet am liable TO be summoned iln-
Incdatey, is learning then one Of M first du-
ties! Ii so, is ncgIectin9 to lean them treason
to society Z" These are questions which eve
ry person, without dstncton liable to be sum-
| moned as juror, is morally bound to ask of
himself Upon his answer, his own conscience
I can decide whether he is faithful OF taithless to
the community Of which he is a member
! We have said that juror should regard him
/ self as an insulated being, an abstraction We
apply this to the case on trial. There he should
regard all personal ties between himself and
either party as dissolved, rs having never exist
ed lie should regard both rs strangers, be-
tween whom his Judgment upon the law and
the facts should be strictly impartial. But,
beyond this, he should regard himself not as
isolated, but as q member Of society, Of the
community which calls upon him as juror,
bound to it by interest, by duties, by moral
principles. He is isolated from the parties liti-
CANT, because, without such iso aton, he cam
not decide between them impartially. But he
is not isolated from tie community whose laws
he applies to them. Here he is identified with
that community. It's interests, its safety are
his and this interest can be promoted, this safe
ty secured, only through his impartial admins
traton and maintenance of the laws. He must
be indifferent to the parties, to prevent his pre-
judices from operating for or against either, and
thus producing justice But he must not be
indifferent to the community, for he is under
the highest moral obligation to sustain it, and
can sustain it, only by sustaining the laws as
he finds them.
Let us suppose a case. Prompted my NAL
ice, one man intlicts gross injuries upon anoth-
er, who kills the aggressor, and is indicted for
murder. The evidence shows that the malice
of the slain was excessive and groundless, that,
the proyocation under which the slayer acted,
was well, fitted to tax forbearance to the utmost;
that, the character Of the slain was detestable,
and his descase even public benefit, while the
character Of the slayer was just and amiable in
the highest degree and that, while the provo
cation was excessive, the homicide was debe-
rate. The juror, considered the bad character
of the deceased, the public gain in his death
and the enormty of the provocation, might say
that the slayer was scarcely guilty of moral
wrong, and had conferred 4 public benefit. He
therefore might say that condemnation was
cruel. But looking beyond the slayer and the
slain, he ought TO see that, license TO one muir
der gives license to all that, if bad character
be an excuse for homicide, no life is safe, since
anybody who wishes to slay his neighbor, might
conceive that his charanter was bad, and that his
death would be a public benefit. The enlight-
ened and conscientious juror would therefore
be the slayer, and know them only as subjects
of the law, and strangers to1himsef. But he
would open his eyes widely upon the commu-
nifty for which he acted, saying that one of his
first duii.s was to consultit safety, which de-
pended entirely upon the maintenance of the
laws. He would therefore say that, if the re-
spondent were guilty upon the law and the facts
he must say SO without regard to his private
wishes for the safety of the community which
safety was then in his hands, required him to
return a true and impartial verdict. Therefore
every juror should regard himself as indepen-
dent Of the parties, dependent on society. :
Phil. Ledger.