Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-11-21
TFsF N ,SssavIILs PATEIor.l
The Iea5slatnre and 4s worh,

matters of legislation should Only be, as as
sumed. of a necessary character The civil
courts seem TO have pretty much suspended,
Qhough litigation, not impaidng the military
service, or the collection of debts perhaps
might properly go on,l so that matters per-
tanning to the sc0r-state Of the country, and
the administration Of the criminal lac, are The
chief and proper subjects of legislation, de
snaudihg tine wisdom and good sense OF The
body now in session. Perhaps more than in
ordinary lines. should criminal justice be
guarded and strengthened, IN times like
tkese The criminal laws are our safely at
home from violence within, whilst the mills
tary preparations protect rs from violence
from without Loose criminal laws. that IA
vor the escape of the guilty, and ultimate in
mobs formed OF good men on the grpnEd that
(as they say here are no lRss 70 PaElsh CRIME,
ar. az. hurtfuI 10 society as defective military
prepare tons are to the STATE; 50 hat, under
the name Of ''trevity q he sgSsion''' and a
disposition against t'unas cess aTy. legjsiationa
it would be bad policy TO omit or pretermii
what is necessary either to che proper admins
tration of.the criminal laws or the afence Of
the State.
We lhink, that 100 aapfy gailty men go un-
punished. whilst yery fer innocent ones if
any, are punished; and the tendency of legis-
latioh in our STATE has been, imperceptihly
and unconsciously, 10 this end. The lawyers,
whose business IL is to acqUif, and who live
by their success, do not generally. of course.
favor laws that ensure the punishment Of
crime, bur. on the contrary, BY tleiir ipfia-
enee, under the name OF guarding theqnnocent.
are al.the time. gradually bat surely, clog
@ging public justic.. ana defestin lis Jast ad-
ministration. Look, for instance, 10 The fact,
that most OF tIe wholesome criminal legisIa-'
ton is had under the Immediate. pressure of
the given occasion. when the popular voice,
Suddenly aroused, drowas OF Eashes all OPP
posiag Influences, even, the cant against re-
forms as being daage Gus. And 40, likely.
it VIII ever toe, when any valuable criminal
reforms shall yet BE- accomplished, unless lie
lawmakers turn away from The craftsmen,
(Which Is hard - do aud act upau the neces-
sites oi the timps as shown to them by those
whose business and interests are GA the side
of llfnishing crane, and not OF acqu:tting the
guilty. In fhe purer days, by The common
lay, if one man killed another with malice
afoFeihuueht, IL was murder. Now, in Ten
neEsee and other States. by the leanings of
legislation towards those who have commit
ted homicide, murder is divided into degrees,
subtle enough to puzzle judges and lawyers,
aud confuse juFias, furnishing cover for the
escape Of the guilty. While, in some States,
The regular panels OF well selected good and
honest men, tFy all the. cases of7tbe term, We
by legislation, give the prisoner 35 psTemptory
challenges in PANEL Of 81 jurors; that is, he
may say to 30 in that number stand aside, :;
without stating aRy cqase whatever, all Of
whom have sworn that they have no opinion
of his guilt or Innocence, are not Of kin 10
him or The prosecutor, are seholdcrs or
freeholdefs, have 40 suit in the court, not
been juror in j months, nor applied 10 be
one Of the guard to the penitentiay On con
victicn o. and otherwise perfectly qualified
in law. with all these toBfools5ies: while all
these challenges rest oa the supposition Of our
laws, made for tie prisoner, that that number
in 81 mag Be or are prciadiced against him,
Notwithstanding their oaths, or are pnfriend-
ly to BIN! The effect is, that re may igclude
the men whom he may think more likely to
punish crime, and select his own friends. or
some Of them, or the partial friends of his
lawyers, or such as would more likely from
their loose views of crime, their mental weak
ness or ignorance, acquit or else hang the
jury, and so defeat conviction and public
justice. There might be some, say even ten
in 81 men miscelianeously summoned by the
sheriff, who, though competent. are prejudic-
ed, regardless of their oaths; but does any
one think there is any possibility. that there
may be 35 sueh9 It IS, Therefore, wrong, an
a0TOng. aszae "a
But, we do not now hope, that the number
of challenges will be reduced, or that the com
mon law, styled the concentrated wisdom of
ages. discarding degrees ia murder will be
restored. Indeed, We can get along, in some
sort, with the laws defining and Furnishing
crime. and may deem them right, but the
provisions of law by which these laws are
Gather are -sl0tl enforced, and by which erimi.
Nal justice is fettered. are the matters of Just
complaint, which the Legislature may rene
dy. Perhaps chiefly among these. Is that
senseleSs rule, that excludes juror as in
competent, simply because he hes formed or
expressed an opinion, not founded on The
statement of acfness (for that would b..
and is right,1 but founded on the Statement
of somebody or bodies naereg, dssxaain 10 state The
facts, or on newspaper Statement which he has
read as an item of news; whereas, if he do
moi ct the facts from aCit1acss, or from some
one ,cho klaolrs them to Be true or from news
paper stating that they came from suci a per
son, he is and onght TO be considered as cap
able 10 try the case in conrt. on the law aud
evidence, under oath, its though he heard
them from mere ruraor or never heard them |
at all. By the present rule, however, nearly
every man who reads nsVsnaper, is render
ed an Incompetent juror In the growing
localities Of the State, where are many peo-
pie, especially on and at The fe5ni,u of the
great thoroughtares by land or water, where
of course, rnore crime exists, aud criminal
Law is sure TO. bs enforced, (as AT Memphis,
where the Criminal COnrt. though expedite
liously administered, is nearly all the year
s,.s,;,,,, \ tl,fs i barcF,f,r- ana = - L,,:,.