Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1858-01-19
For ne enquirer.
THE CRIMINAL JURY SYSTEM OF vIR-
GINA"

"THE CRIMINAL JURY SYSTEM OF vIR-
GINA"
We are glad to see that move has been made in
the Legislature. towards correcting what We believe
TO be serious defects in our present jury system. for
the trial U feonies. When at the session of l852'3
the civil jury system entirely changed, aud for
the better, by some singular fatality, which often
mars the beet Of human undertakings, the trial of
t,ionies entirely excepted from the beneficial
operation of this law, law which has added 10
the rgniiy of Courts and has secured for the ad
mnistration of justice higher order Of men NJ iu.
rors than ever before had.
Before this alteration the men who formed the ia.
ries were, for the most part, the loaers that hung
around the Court House. for the chance Of an occs-
siona trent. or because they lived in the neghbor.
hood, and were worth nothing at home; men who
could boeeummOned with east trouble 10 the deputy
sheriff. and who not nnirequenty reflected the views
of the summoning officer IN the Jury box either of
friendness towards party or uniriendness to.
wards the other. Ts true, that the law authorized
"a special jury" but rash must the council have
been, who would have haZarded his client by mo-
tinn for "a special Jury" il amounted to cha
lenge of the men who usually tried the csus-s Of the
Court and who in the of failure in the hands
of the opposng counsel, would be apt to remember
the insult offered to their fairness and intelligence.
And once at least, the writer Of this article rem-m
bers advising client who had been aued in "assau
aud battery" for giving the plaintiff righteous
hogging. to compromise at pretty high figure, tn
.her than go be.ore the jury, who had been called a
the door, tho risk of 4 failure for "a special
jury
But the Jury act of 1888 came in ana corrected
this evil and secured to the Coura higher order OF
Jurors than before; average of the worth and in
tegence of the county Mt large, and entirely be
yond the control of the summoning officer, but, by
the fatality before mentioned, expressly excluded
iuries for the trial Of feonies. And now we would
call upon the present Legislature TO correct this great
defect in the Law, and to extend this beneficial system
to the trial OF fonies that higher class of cases that
is calculated TO bring into exercise all The passions
and prejudices and feelings Of nature; for
if the feelings Of the summoning officer might have
been reflected by the jury, under the former civil
system. how much more room ia there for gratifying
his likes diskes towards the accused under the pre-
sent criminal system! As the law now stands, every
criminal clm escape the due rewards Of his iniquy,
by an arrangement not always inpo-sbe TO be made
with the Sheriff his deputy, To summon five men,
who willing to serve ia jurymen on the trial;
one of the FIVE is obliged to be juror, as the
lot throws out but four of the sixteen, who say they
have formed or expressed no opinion as to the guilt
or innocence of the prisoner" and all that he has to
do lie. to chang" the jury while the other eleven may
be for hanging his friend ia il mpossbs that men
may be put on the jury by the summoning officer.
The entsTian ] feeling Of secret !er sp"y to the nc
less probable and practicable than the former
Again, how does it happen, that y man charged
with petty larceny is TO be tried by one SYSTEM and
man charged with grand larceny by another1 Why
i. il that lie who steals Sl9 % s tu he tried by the
men summoned from the worth and intelligence OF
the county at large and he who steais $20 O0-one
cent MORRIS 10 beiried by men selected by the She
riff or his deputies7 If il be said tha: tha line of de-
marcaton must b, drawn somewhere, and that i'm
perfection is the fue of all things earthly, we answer
that the part of wisdom s, to have little of de-
msrcation as poaible where principle Ia involved
and as little discrmation and compexity as rossible
in the criminal administration of the county.
r al "a. 10 ba
the advantages holds out 10 the culprt, it would
seem ~ the inenbecame uf more Importance to the
community and he law, the more they Gin, though
crime is to be hnored ~ it advances in magnitude.
But conceive that the object OF the law is higher
and nnber one han the clearing of the guilty, that
the welfare of lie whole community is TO be put be
fore that por.i o it, who 10 be found arraigned
ut The bar of criminal Justice that should become
terror to evil dC,rs snd should cndeHvor to dscour-
age vice in the most eif.ctusl wsy-by Furnishing il.
II so, radical ,hange must be mace in the compost.
ton and mode usulnn0ning our criminal luries; this
most important art OF the machinery Of justice must
be pu. beyond lie control Of any man Or sci ot men.
And how il this be accomplished What change 50
simple and eileclial ne tn draw the twelve inen who
are to try feloniS from tho box of jurors, made up
of the worth nndineligence Of the county at large
"psrsons of SCUM Judgment ana tree IRON lega! e1
cepon 'as the iot OF 1858 has it, and SO esteemed
by the County Curt, the tribunal that knows most
of the character Il the people Of the County and moi
to he acted upon ty any such motives AS we believe
might now contro tho composition and action OF our
criminal uriesl But il is objected that one law now
requires 'that thury for feonies shall be sumnoned
from the portion )f the County most remote from the
scene of the osce, while the jury box for civil cases
il made ap from be county NJ large This principle
of srmmoning from parts remote from the srelir
of the offence, il an encroschment OH the common
law "and the bl Of rights and the Code OF lSl9
which requires g jury of the vcinage," but has no
foundation in rason. We conceive; for why man
from one end o the County can try an offender from
the other end >etter than those who know or may
know the accusd best, is yet 10 be shown.
The right OF peremptory challenge, anu challenge
for cause whic1 is unlimited TO say nothing of the
Examining Court, tribunal unknown To the common
law and tn INST judiciary systems. except our own
and which enIres exclusively 10 the benefit Of the
accused woult be n sufficient safe guard for the in
nocent. IIIde,d, see no reason tor Keeping the
right of perem,ory challenge, the jurors are to be
drawn in the way proposed; for the unlimited right
of challenge fo. cause, would be protection enough
70 the accused with such as now to he found
in the iury bot. The rig of peremptory challenge
IA stated by Blackstone, extended. formerly TO IS.
then was cut down TO 20, and by tine Code Of lSi9
WAS reduced g. Now, II It be matter OF prInci'
nIe TO secure 70 the accused THE right OF challenge
without cause what an immense compromise or SAC
riGcp Of pripcple towards the criminals Of the land
wa. the Legislature of 1919 guilty of that took away
this right AZ 10 90 and left il but as 10 8. The right
nf challenge the array aud challenge, for 10
individual Jurors, are sufficient, think, to satisfy
the warmest advocates of the feons, If their good is
alone to be considered by our law makers
Every one who has witnessed trial for felony in our
courts knows that the eight most intelligent men are
generally stuck by the perempory challenge, and
alss how rauoh of the respeciab lty Of the jury box
is gone as one after another of the eight whdrsws at
the instancs ofthe criminals counsel and how much Of
the respectdue to the law and its administration, ia dis
peed by view Of the IL who remainthe sediment as
were VINO thought to be I'll subjects To be work
ed upon either though their ignorance or prejudice,
or some oner not praise worthy motive to clear
the guilty.
We arr conscious that changes in the criminal law
especially are to be regretted, but change of the
character proposed would have but little ofthe ohjec
tion of n,rcy rs the people OF the State are by expert
enc. fully acquainted with the working Of the civil
iury syStem and have set their seal of appreciation
uuon IT, And perhaps OF the most serious defects
in this admirable system could be thus renedied by
en,rstng to them the trial leonies and giving them
in addition TO the pittful pitance they now receive
the compensation now allowed our criminal jurors.
Ii now happens whenever felony is to be tried, that
the % civil jurors have to loaf ar the court house.
many days together, and often the whole term-for
not unfrequeutly the term is consumed in getting
jury and trying felony, under the present system
while "a other men summoned, or 10 be sum.
moned, for the performance of work that the men
on the civil jury would do well, and We believe.
great dea! better with more costs IN dollars and
cents the community and at much less cost to the
Staten epersoDa Inconvenience &c Of her citizens
tI,n rtIla