Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1863-11-10
GRAND JURIES..

-~aSN%~N~
,6ush well enough in the day Of their
,cIndation, (and admirably adapted to
4 the then existing state of society have at
last, through the worlds mutations, be-
came useless and burdensome, we class
that "ancient bulwark of liberty" the
Grand Jury. In that far off elder-day,
when that "bulwak" was erected, man
kind was in a far different state of civih-
cation than that which now sheds its light
upon the world. A Government of the
People had no existence upon the face OF
the earth; sceptres and crowns and
thrones ruled the world, and the gulf that
yawned between the subject and his lord
was wide as the void between heaven and
hell. The voice of the plebian citizen was
unheard and unheeded; and the fiat OF
the monarch was echoed by "ermined
pimps" upon the bench; courts were but
the ready instruments of crowned and
titled tyranny, and there was crying need
of such barrier as the Grand Jury be-
tween the people and their lords. That
day has passed away forever. The people
are no longer divided into two great sep
arate and distinct castes of lords and serfs.
The Judges of our land are not the ap-
pointed minions and ready tools of kings
but are chosen by the people, and from
the people, and the power that makes and
can unmake them, is a power that they
are forced to respect. There is little
ground for apprehension that without the
intervention ofa Grand Jury the innocent
man will be dragged before final tribu-
nal for trial upon trumped-up, baseless
charge, and convicted of crime by a trial
Jury of his own selection; and false and
frivolous accusation is thousand times
easier substantiated before the ez parte
Star Chamber Inquisition of Grand Jury
Room than in an open investigation be-
fore magistrate where the accused can
confront his accusers and bring witnesses
to refute them. The whole Grand Jury
system is cumbersome, costly, and VAL
ueless piece of machinery that the sooner
done away with the better for the State. 1t
has no existence elsewhere in Europe than
in Great Britain, and even there much of its
old-fashioned tom-foolery has been abol-
ished. The endless mass of iteration, ?
absurd verboseness, and pack of lies
generally, that go to make up genuine,
Simon pure indictment, to read which,
without grin, tries sorely the most So
lemnIClerk of the Court, is an abolished
institution in England, although it is still
clung to with tenacity in America. In
stead of sheet after sheet of legal cap, as is
required by the ancient custom to describe
the simplest case of theft or homicide,
few words of common acceptation are
used to describe the person and the crime,
and the indictment is sufficient. In this,
old-fogy England has taken step in ad-
vance of us, although she still clings to
the Grand Jury. 1t should be remember
ed, however, that now, as in the olden
time, her judges are not always of the
people, and are never selected by them.
The system has one great objection, which,
If there were no other, shonld be strong
argument against it, and that is, the delay
inseparable from its use. This delay is
one of the widest loop-holes for the es-
cape of the guilty, and the greatest wrong
to the man unjustly accused of crime.
Let the Grand Jury system be abolish
ed, and let the proceedings in criminal
cases be in other respects exactly the same
as at present. Let the accusation be made
before magistrate; let him, as now, make
full and complete investigation of the
facts in the case, and if there be probable
cause, hold him to answer before Court
of competent jurisdiction for trial at the
earliest possible moment. No innocent
man will fear the operation of such code
however much the guilty might mourn
over such an infraction of time-honored
custom. This is question that we have
frequently discussed among men learned
in the law, and of the most extensive ex-
perience in criminal jurisprudence. and we
have found them almost unanimous in
their opinion that the Grand jury system
is an entirely unnecessary, cumbersome
and expensive one, andope that it would
bewsell to do away with entirely.