Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1861-01-11

IuAgo DAlloa's Charge to the
Grand Jury.
fpeelversd In Ooert Ut Muscatine, JAM 7th, 1851
2sRtJtmsx 9th Grand Jury:
Ynu are awaro, chat the last General As
emily passed two acts, known respectively
9 the Codes Of Civil and Criminal Practice.
these went into effect on the Let day OF
September last. As the Criminal Code has
some material and important
'hangee In the mode of procedure in crimi-
aal prosecutions and az you cannot be pre-
'umed to b familiar with these changes, as
tho law creating them has been In force but
! few months. Il seems peculiarly appropri.
Ate, If not necessary, that should charge
vOu In relation to your powers and duties
with more than ordinary precision and NIL
nuteness. In the faithful and intelligent
discharge Of your functions, every good Oft
len has direct and an Immediate concern.
The importance of a judioious and impartial
of the criminal code to the
well-being of society is conceded BY all, and
indeed cannot easily be over-stated. Civil
are instituted among men, and
laws are enscted, in order that the rights OF
each individual may be preserved and pro-
tected, and the prongs done to each and toI
all redressed, and this BY the remedies and
appliances Dhich tho lao has prescribed, and
6Y no other. Wherever the law is strictly,
impartially and intelligen!ly administered,
the people have confidence in its power to
accomplish the purposes for which it is en-
acted. And hence the citizen, deprecating
all resort to violence, and never entertaining
the idea Of taking the law into hiso own hands,
naturally and obediently turns to the con-
stituted authorities, and to them alone, to
protact him in all his just and lawful rights,
whether Of person or property. But it the
administration Of the law is lax, public con
fidence In it is weakened or destroyed. And
when this is the case, the people, or portions
of them, are but too apt, as our experience
has shown In this State a. in others, to
trample tho law under foot and resort to
mob force and illegal violence instead.
am firmly persuaded that our Criminal
Code is as lenient and humane as consistent
with just regard to the public good. The
law defining crimes is necessarily rigid and
precise. The boundaries Of each offense
must, from the nature of the cas- >, be de6n-
itely drawn. In afixing the puuishment,
however. wide limits are generally prescri-
bed, within which the discretion OF the Court
can range, and adjust the penalty in each
particular instance as circumstances in ale
Walton or aggrevation may require.
The law in this country has always afford
ed the prisoner, when indicted, many ad Gsn-
tages. In this State, under the new Code
his advantages are not only many, but
signal.
have sometimes thought, but perhaps
without sufficient reason, that it might now
justly be complained that the pendulum had
swung from tho inhuman severity of the an
cient common law to the opposite extreme.
And that the rights OF the public were in
some instances sacrificed to an unnecessary
solicitude that none of the rights of the hum.
blest individual should by any possibility be
put in peril.
The rules of evidence, for example, are
made liberal in their scope and bearing to.
wards the accused by our Constitution and
laws. All unn ecessary rigor is removed
In view of which, we may veil adopt the
elegant language OF Lord Erskine, and say
that the principles of the law of evidence in
criminal cases are founded lin the charities
Of religion-in the philosophy of nature-in
the truths of history-and in the experience
of common life.'
The law being thus mild and humane. no
reason is seen why grand or traverse,
should even be tempted to allow their SYM
pathies to intervene between indisputable
guilt and merited punishment.
II anything further were needed to exhibit
at once the tenderness Of our law towards
the prisoner, and the responsible duties
with which you are charged, it is to be
found in the fact that the Constitution OF
the State provides that no person shall be
holden to answer for any of the graver
criminal offences unless such person is first
duly indicted by legal grand jury.
1t is made my duty to charge the grand
jury. In doing so ! propose, simply. to
give you some plain and practical directions
in the hope that they may aid you in the
proper discharge of your duties Immedi-
ate!y upon your retiring you will appoint
one of your members Clerk. 1t is made
his duty to take and preserve minutes of the
proceedings and Of the evidence given be-
fore the Grand Jury, exceptthe votes Of the
individual members thereof in passing upon
the question whether bill shall, or shall
not, be found. You will observe that the
law requires minutes only of the proceed
ings and evidence to be taken. Hence it is
not necessary that every word delivered by
the witness should be written down but
the substance only of all of the material
parts of tho evidence.
If, however, you can select as clerk. q
rapid and expert penman, who can take
down the evidence in full as it falls from the
lips of the witnesses, without causing any
considerable delay, then this had better be
done. BIT whatever mode is adopted accu-
racy is of the h.st importance because the
evidence or the minutes OF tins evidence of
each witness examined before you, is requi-
red to be presented with the indictment to
the Court, and filed by the Clerk, and of this
the defendant is entitled to copy to enable
him to prepare for trial, and for his use
upon the trial.
Unless care Is observed, you may misun-
derstand what witness really means, or
misreprssent what he says, and thus when
the same witness comes to testify before the
traverse jury, there will be a discrepancy or
confiict in his testimony, Us taken down by
you, and as delivered on the trial Justice
to the witness, therefore, and due regard
to the interests of public justice Slike re-
quire diligence and caution in the perform
apce of this part of your duties. That &C.
cura cy may the better be insured, would
recommend that the evidence or
minutes thereof. of each witness, be careful
" read over to him before he finally tires
rom your room. The minutes of the evil
lence in each case Should bs keptsseparate
and not mingled with evidence give q la Other
eases and it should be kept in such form
hat it can conveniently accompany the in
lictment to which it relates.
The foreman has the power, and it is his
luty, ,to administer an oath to all witnesses
Produced aad examined before the Grand
Jury.
In the absence of the District Attorney,
he foreman may conduct the examination
f witnesses. But this is not an exclusive
uty of his /; it may be delegated to any 9TH
+ member !; and every juror has the right to
questions to the witness and par
icipate in their examination.
n