The Montana post., 1868-12-18
OUR JURY SYSTEM.
NUMBER II.

W asnoe priOr 10 the formation of a Stat.
government has passed into proverb.
and IL has become customary TOR those
not conversant with the facts, to speak
of this corruption as something that
Permeated through the whole body pol>
tic, tainlhg the fountains ot public jus
ttce and destroying all integrity, both
public and private among h,. people.
lt has been assumed that thCr the ver~
dict of juries were necessarily market
able commodities, and were Knocked
down, as a matter of course, TO the highs
est and most skilliul bidder. Never was
there more unjust aspeTsion cast upon
the ialr fame of a people who found
themselves suddenly thrown into the
centre OF a thousand perpleXities, in ad-
vance OF any government whatever, and
exposed To the temptations OF excessive
wealth suddenly acquired, before society
had begun TO assume any definite shape,
or public opinion had begun TO exist.
/ With the organization of the Territorial
government the most strenuous exer-
tious were made to purify the channels
of public Justice. Laws were passed,
drawing the jurors from the best and
most substantial citizens of the county,
and every device resortsd to that offered
a reasonable presumption of improves
Inent. An extensive acquaintance with
the history of the leading cases tried,
/ justifies me in the assertion that there
were never more than one or two pur-
chased verdicts rendered, but when
the subject matterot litigation consisted
OF mining claims, whose market value
ranged from one TO six millions
out of which claims the compapies
in litigation were daily taking thou~
sands of dollars. it was found To be im>
possible to select a jury upon which
there would not be one or more who
could not be basely influenced to hang
the jury and thus prevent the settle
ment ot controversies with references to
titles. Taking advantage of this con.
dition OF things, shrewd but unscrupu-
lous operators bought up old abandoned
titles. organized companies with large
capitals. sunk deep shafts snort dis
lance from the richest mines and from
tue hotJom of these shafts drifted in
upon the mines AT a lower level than
that az which the true owners were ut
work. and boldly roblsrd them of nils
lions of dollars worth of ore Ith al
most perfect impunity.
1t suit WAS brought To- recover the
possession, they would, as above stated,
buy one or more jurors To hang the jury
AMI by this means be enabled to con-
tinue their Wholesale peculation. So
tar as related 10 jury trials this was the
history ot litigation with = arciy u va
ration from 1860 To 1864 Though long
delayed in consequence of the richness
ot the mines, the inevitable result was
finally reached in the distrust OF capital
and tile destruction uf private credit,
until in JLe summer ui 1861 while the
mines We're still yielding their customs
aFy aggregate of bullion, the parties op-
Grating them after having spent some
thirty millions directly and indirectly
in litigation without settling the title To
a single claim, withdrew their capital
by selling out their stock at almost any
price and a revulsion in business set in
taut bsnkruptad hundreds aud drove
thousands ot ltborins men from the
country. Sadly did the community re-
alize the absolute verify of the old law
maxim, ''Ihnt Il Is Lie p0lirg of tie bfC
Tint there Sb0lrid De d speedy cad tO tttig0~
tim realize il in wasted fortunes. shat
tered hopes and the decentralization that
inevitably follows upon the heel OF deep
and bitter disappointment
About this time the Constitutional
Convention met aud submitted TO the
people tor adoption or rejection con-
stitutiOn providing that in all civil
cases the verdict of three fourths ot the
jury should stand as the verdict of the
whole. The Constitution was adopted,
and three district judges were elected
for Storey county, who, on their access
sion To Office, found a calendar burden
ed with between four thousand and five
thousand cases The new jury law was
put into practical operation and in about
a year tia calendar was cleared and the
title To every foot OF mining ground in
the county which was in litigation was
settled, and so tar as / am informed, set
tied in favor of the prior right or better
title The law in its practical workings
achieved results which its fOndest ad-
vccates never expected. Count Brok-
CFS' who by their presence bad polluted
the Temples of Justice. found that their
occupation was gone. when the
purchase of one, two, or even three
venal jurors could not prevent justice
being done, and ceased To SET their traps
and spread forth their temptations to
cOrrupTlOn. \ wholesome difference
was soon plainly perceptible in the
character of the political struggles for
the local offices. The community
breathed easier under blessed sense OF
relief, and taxes were lessened which
before had been eating up the
substance of the people TO
defray the expenses OF all interminable
litigation that unsettled everything and
settled nothing. Strange as il may seem
it was found by actual experience that
unanimous verdicts were nearly always
rendered when unaniInity ceased to be
necessary, while juries nearly always
failed TO agree when their decision was
required to be unanimous. This result
was produced by the total stop which
the adoption of the three-fourths system
put 10 attempts TO tamper with juries,
and brought to reason those human
anomalies. one or more of whom are Gn
the experience OF every practiciDg attor-
ney) TO be found on almost every panel,
who think that IL is '' a beg thing to hang
a iury" C0HDr0nlfSe rerdicts went out