The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1865-06-02
Courts-Martial and Juries.
What story Thought of the COnstitu.
tiOnal Riggt!Of Trial by Jury..HOvv
the Law Deals with Courts. NJ artial.

Story's Commentaries on the Constitution"
contain the following passages concerning the
constitutional right of trial by jury:
The next clause of the first section of the
third article is 1.-THE trial of all crimes, save
in cases of Impeachment, shall be by jury; and
such trial shall be held in the State where
such crimes shall have been committed. But
when not committed within any State, the
trial shall be at such place or places as the
Congress may by law have directed"
1t seems hardly necessary in this place to
expatate upon the antiquity or importance of
the trial by jury in criminal cases. 1t was from
very early times insisted on by our ancestors in
the parent country as the great bulwark of their
civil and political liberties, and watched with
an unceasing jealousy and solictude. The
right constitutes the fundamental articles of
Magma Charta, in which it is declared, "nullus
homo capiatur, nee imprisonetur, aut exulet,
aut alignO mOdO destruatar, &C.; nisi per legale
judicium parium suorum vel per legem terre;"
no man shall be arrested, nor imprisoned, nor
banished, nor deprived of life, &C., but by the
judgment of his peers or by the law of the
land. The judgment of his peers here alluded
to, and commonly called, in the quaint Ian.
guage of former times, trial per pals or trial
by the country, is the trial by jury, who are
called the peers of the party accused, being of
the like condition and equality in the state.
to America, they brought their great privilege
with them, as their right and inheritance, as
part of that admirable common law which had
been fenced round and interposed barriers on
every side against the approaches of arbitrary
power. 1t is now incorporated into all our
State constitutions as fundamental right; and
the Constitution of the United States would
have been justly obnoxious to the most con-
elusive objection, if it had not recognized and
confirmed it in the most solemn terms.
The great object of trial by jury in criminal
cases is to guard against a spirit of oppression
and tyranny on the part of rulers, and against
spirit of violence and vindictiveness on the
important to guard against the latter than the
former. The sympathits of all mankind are
enlisted against the revenge and fury of sim
gle despOt, and every attempt will be made to
screen his victims. But how difficult it is to
escape from the vengeance of an indignant
people, reused into hatred by untounded cal
umnies, or stimulated to cruelty by bitter pol
ltlcal enmltleS or unmeasured jealouSies The
appeal for safety can, under such circum-
stances, scarcely be made by innocence m any
other manner than by the severe control of
courts ofjustice, and by the firm and impartial
verdict OF jury sworn to do right, and guided
solely by legal evidence and sense of duty.
In such course there is o double security
against the prejudices Of judges, who may par
tude, who may demand their victims with a
clamorOus precipitancy. So long, indeed, as
this palladium remains sacred and inviolable,
the liberties of free government cannot Who'll
ly fail. But to give it real efficiency, it must
be preserved in its purity and dignity and not,
with view to slight Inconvenience or imagin-
airy burdens, be put into the hands of those
who are incapable of estimating its worth, or
are too inert, or too ignorant, or too imbecile,
to WELD It's potent armor. Mr.. Justice Black
stone, with the warmth and pride becoming an
Englshman living under its blessed protection,
has said: "a celebrated French writer, who
concludes that because Rome, Sparta and Car.
of England in time must perish, should have
recollected that Rome, Sparta and Carthage, ct
the time when their liberties were lost, were
strangers to the trial by jury"
But although this permission of q
trial by jury in criminal cases is thus constitu-
tionally preserved to all witnesses, the jeal-
ousies and alarms of the opponents of the con.
stitution were not quieted. They insisted that
q bill of rights was indispensable on other sub
iects, and that upon this further auxiliary
rights ought to have been secured. These OBJ
iections found their way into the State Conven-
TONS and were urged with great zeal against
the Constitution. They did not however, pre-
vent the adoption of that instrument; but
they produced such q strong effect upon the
public mind that Congress, Immediately after
their first meeting, proposed certain amend
ments, embracing all the suggestions which
appeared of much force, and these amend
ments were ratified by the several States, and
are now become . part of the Constitution.
They are contained in the 9Th and 9Th articles
of the amendments, and are as follows: mo
person shall be held to answer for capital or
other infamous crime, unless on presentment
or indictment of o grand jury, except in cases
arising In the land or naval forces, or in the
MALTA when in actual service in time of war,
on public charges" &c.
COURTS MARTIAL.
Macarthur on Courts Martial (vol. 1, p 229)