Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1869-03-30
The Berkeley Circuit Court.

sEPH A. CHAPL1NE, presiding as Judge
We present below charge which he dellv-
cred to the Grand Jury, and have only to
say, that if he adheres to the positions assumed
in this charge, we shall have no fault to find
with him in his new role as Judge:
Gentlemen of The Grand Jury:-In enter
ing upon the discharge of the duties incum-
bent upon me by the appointment to the Office
of Judge of this Circuit-an office assigned
to me by the uusough. kindness of the late
Executive of the State-my first charge to
you who compose the Grand Inquest OF the
County will be brief, and such only as will
lead you to proper conception OF the duties
you have assumed by virtue OF the position
you occupy, relatively to yourselves and to
the laws over which you have cognlzance.-
The statutory law requires me to give to you
in special charge the following acts OF the
Legislature
l. Fraud upon the revenue;
2. Running passenger cars with doors
locked
8. An act providing for the Registration
of the qualified voters of this State, passed
February 18th, 1867.
By the requirements of the law imposing
upon me the duty give you in special charge
the foregoing acts of the Legislature, you-will
recognize the fact of their Importance; and,
n the investigation. of any and all violations
of them, respectively, you will be diligent
and perseveriug, and thereby suffer no in
fraction of them to pass by Undecided and
unmasked.
By advertng to the laws of the State over
which your position as Grand Jurors gives
YOU cognizance-to which laws you have ac-
Al of tO
read them fer yourselves-you will at once
perceive the nature of your duties, their ex-
tent aud their limit. 1t would, therefore. be
supcrfuous for me to rehearse them severally
to YOU. Many of you have doubtless served
before in your present capacity, and will un-
derstand the nature of your sworn duty and
the obligation Of your respective oaths, and
consequently it would be waste of time and
an abuse of your patience to direct the atten>
ton of an intelligent Grand Jury more spe-
officially to them than have already done.
You will observe in all its details the oath
which you have severaIly taken, and 1 lave
an abiding assurance that all the obligations
which it imposes will be sacredly needed aud
observed by each of you.
1t is my first duty, as it will be yours, to
administer the laws they stand, without
any reference to their character, their bear
ing, their tendency, Or their individual ope>
ration.
You have no right, and it is no part f
your duty, to pause for the enquiry whether
the laws as they exist are wholesome or salu>
tary, whether they be adapted to individual
taste, or whether they fulfil the purposes Tor
which they were enacted. They are no less,
of the land, and as such, the Judge on the
Bench, the Jury in the box, and the Grand
Jury in the place assigned to it, are alike
bound to regard and enforce them. They arc
designed for an eLd. That end is Ineligible
to every understanding; and plainly indicated
by the term of each law as written down. aud
to fulfill that end and manifest design must
be my province, my duty, and yours Your
duties embrace an enquiry into the commission
of all felonics, nisdemeauors, and inlractions
of penal law and if, at any time during your
deliberations any perp!exing or embarrassing
questions arise, you can call to your aid for
their solution the services of the Prosecuting
Attorney, whose duty it is by law to obey any
rcquisition made upon him for such purposes.
The terms of the oath which you have
severally taken characterize the manner and
the spirit in which your duties must be dis
charged.
As Grand Jurors, the oath imposed on you
requires that you shall dircst yourselves Of all
memory of personal tcuds and prejudices.
As Grand Jurors, you can have no personal
preferences to crafty or indulge, and no
passions or pref udices to subserve but in
your deliberations all these must be consigned
to oblivion, and your controlling desire and
determination must be to fulfill alike the obi
cations which the law and your ouths impose.
In word, you, as the Grand Inquest Of your
county, know no man in the discharge Of your
official duties.
Al persons are alike entitled to the protec-
ton which law affords to life, liberty, and
property; and all alike ale amcnable- for It's
intIactOn.
We have no privileged class among us who
can look to you to foster and indulge their
passions, and we have NO oUTLAwED CLASS
OVER WHOM THE LAW REFUSES TO CAST ITS
PROTECTING MANTLE.
You, and each of you, have well earned the
title of just and appreciative men when you
adhere strictly and infexibly to these con-
trolling rules, unswaycd by passion or prejudice,
and to the emphatic terms of your oaths "to
present no person through i'll will. personal or
otherwise, nor have any unpresentcd through
fear or favor, aud in all your presentments
present the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth" Never permit your body to
be made the medium Tor the indulgence OF
personal or political antipathy, or the gratiti
cation Of private malice on tie part of those
who too often seek to make your body the
instrument by which personal feuds are to be
avenged and private malice subserved. Tura
q deaf ear to all such unhallowed and insdious
efforts, from whatever source they emanate.
Your body has been empaneled and constituted
for higher and nobler purposes, and look to
you with renewing confidence to accomplish
the purposes for which alone you now
convened. By the unfinching observance of
these rules for your guidance, you will entitle
yourselves 70 the communication of all nerSOns