, 1862-04-15
TEE NEW CONSTITUTIONS
IUREESs

IAE NE" CONs41EUTION-GR
JUREES.
The advocates Of the new constitution
are making great ado about the " abolition
Of Grand Ju1ies" by that instrument Now
this is all moonshine. Il does not abolish
Grand Juries. It merely reduces their
number from twenty-four to fifteen mem
bers, and provides that they shall have
Jurisdiction only Of offences in which the
death penalty or imprisonment in the peni-
tertiary isimposed. There is saving OF
few dollars year in this, quite proba-
bly,, which however, is more than ten times
lost by the cumbrous machinery Of the new
county courts, which latter will be about OF
as much use as fifth wheel to coach
Again the principal cause Of the expense
Of the grand juries is, that they areappend-
ages of the Circuit Courts, in which civil
takes the lead Of criminal business. Thus,
nine out Of ten Of the cases in which in
dictments have been found BY them are
never tried. It is directly against the in
te1ests Of the officers Of the Court to do 80,
from Judge down to Sheriff The Judge
and Clerk get no pay for these cases; nor
does the Sheriff, except for dieting the
prisoners, and of course the longer the par
ties are confined in jail the better for him
The new Constitution does away with the
inferior local courts Of criminal jurisdic-
ton, which are the most useful in the State,
and in which the criminal business IS done
in a prompt and satisfactory manner, as is
the case in the Recorders Court Of this
city, and the local courts Of Kane, LaSalle
and other counties. In the inferior courts
the grand juries do not sit long, and the
number Of cases in which convictions are
found is very large in proportion to the III
dictments. In the Circuit Courts the re,
verse is the case, and will continue to be
in much larger proportion in the new
than under the old Constitution for various
| reasons
| For Instance: under the new Constitu-
| ton, appeals can be taken from the Justi
| ces of the Peace in civil and criminal cases
| if while they have jurisdiction, to the
County Courts. Now, all these appealE
are made to save the criminal by ryiun
out the officers; and in nine cases out O.
ten, the criminal is successful in the end
By giving shyster lawyer few dollars
an offender can appeal from one court tt
another, under the new Constitution, heap
ing up expense at every appeal, until in tht
end the costs are twenty times the amour
Of the original price. But what cares be
He has no money and snaps his fingers a
the law. Should imprisonment and fine b
the sentence, his appeal saves him from TIL
former, or at least gives him nine chance
out Of ten to escape.
The result Of this will be, that by tn
partial abolition Of grand jurics, the tota
abolition Of inferior local courts Of crimj
nal juries diction, and the Intervention q
q county court, Of no earthly use whatever
the State is put to an incacu1ab1e expense
justice is impeded, and shyster lawyer
given chanceto reap harvest, rich in til
rlunder Of both the people and the State
The three score and ten lawyers were nc
In the Convention for nothing
But the worst feature Of this curtai
n.elt Of the jurisdiction Of grand juries,
, that which substitutes for them the Count
Attorney, who is given power great
than any despot that now rules on cart
4 large class Of the cases thrown into h
hands are those involving frauds, adu
teries, seductions, conspiracies, &c. I
these cases money is generally very free]
used. They are either malicious on tt
of part Of the prosecutor or incl1i
frauds to large Or small amounts On IL
part Of the defendant. And it entirel
depends upon the County Attorne
i whether he Will lodge information again
| such and such good fellow or sue
; and such rascal. The good fello
) will almost always be his political or pc
sonal friends, and the rascal his political {
personal enemy, or that OF his friend, {
: friends friend; or he may be fellow VII
, has failed to come to time to the tune I
, one hundred or five hundred or thousau
dollars, as tue case may involve large
small amounts. The truth is no man
: safe from the resentment, malice or mcrce1
ay greed of County: Attorney under th
! new constitution. And the cases ov
t which he is given such unlimited powe
are those in which information is lust
damaging to the party as conviction g
/ name and fame are irretr1eyably blasted
the breath Of malicious OF mercena
prosecutor, whose salary, say $500
/ 81 ,O00 per annum, is but very sm
e portion Of the receipts of lis Office.
kWOULD THEY SWEAR9
1t ought to be q matter Of regret amo
| 11va1 rffi1ana that fha fa1-iro of tim ~