The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-01-21

~ RoAaVOtAy ANHuhAhtou WIN lufBDIuuouCo
and with the laws" He would have better
expressed the preference Of very large
number Of American lawyers, had he written:
II would rather submit to the Judgment of
a single skilful judge, in civil cause, than to
the verdict of twelve ignorant jurors, who
being unaccustomed to the application Of the
rules Of evidence, and without experience in
analyZing, arranging, and combining masses
of intricate and perhaps conflicting testi-
mony, are made the victims of their sympa-
thy and impulse, and moulded by the skilful
advocate, as clay in the hands Of the potter"
In the trial of civil causes, the objection to
a single Judge is not felt to be so forcible as
in criminal trials. 1t very rarely happens
that the controversies of private individuals
are such as to tempt the integrity of the Judge,
who is usually q discerning man, practiced in
sitting the true from the false, and accus-
toned to testing the rights of parties by the
cold, infexible standards of the law. If such
judge may ''direct" or control the verdict
of jury, there is no good reason why he
may not himself decide the cause at once in
those cases where the public interest is not at
stake Nay, there are apparent many reasons
why it were better so.
1. For example, jurors, if not always igno-
rant, are at least generally unaccustomed to
performing judicial functions, and are as un-
trained for and unskilled in that kind of la
Dor as the judge who ''directs' them is in
building steam engines Now, there is no ap-
propriateness in taking men from every calling
in every walk of life to perform, without pre-
vious training, one Of the most delicate and
difficult functions of governments, except it
be, as we have before said, in those cases of
public concern in which political considera-
tions outweigh all Others Yet it is often,
nay, generally, done. On the other hand
judges, if not always skilful, are always
of respectable standing in q profession
which is trained in the study and practice
of the law; and they are not seldom men of
unsullied honor and profound sagacity.
2. Jurors may be, and often are, imposed
upon and misled by the artful sophistries of
an advocate, if he be a popular favorite
Judges are rarely deceived by the tricks Of
the trade
3. In theory of law jurors are judges of
fact only: in practice they are many times
judges of both law and fact, receiving the
charge of the court with becoming meekness,
and then deciding according to their own
notions of law and right. This is especially
SO in civil causes, where the government or q
great corporation is party against private
individuals. In such cases it is often
nearly impossible to obtain q fair and
impartial verdict. We could name a
county whrre a railroad company was
never known to win the verdict, no matter
what the law or the evidence might be, or
how often the verdict might be set aside, or
judgments reversed by the superior tribunals;
and railroad cases are of common occurrence
there. We could name another county in
which verdicts have been set aside and judg-
ments reversed by the higher courts no less
than eight times in a single case, and still
the popular element continues to speak
through the jury against the solemn judg-
ment of some of the purest and best men on
the bench. Yet this is mere civil action
| for damages, in which the public have nc
interest whatever; but there is a popular
jealousy of corporations to be gratifed; and
| SO, right or wrong, the verdict is always
| for the plaintiff. Such abuses can only be
come frequent under the jury system, ant
could hardly occur with any judge who has
any professional pride, to say nothing of hon
| esty. That kind of contumacy amounts to 6
species of notification, and any judge wht
should attempt it and persist in it would bt
speedily impeached and removed.
4. Jurors are beyond the reach of impeach
ment because their Office ends with the find
ing of the verdict. Not only so, they are prac
tically beyond the reach of any punishment
for false verdict In the olden times o wri
of attaint lay to inquire whether a jury o.
twelve men gave false verdict, and il
! the grand Jury of attaint found the verdict tC
|
the jurors were outlawed and made forever
infamous, and were also punished by confs
cation and imprisonment. If this remedy wai
ever adopted in this country, it long since
| fell into disuse. Jurors now sit and deter
mine the rights of parties without any re
| sponsibility to the law except for perjury ant
taking bribes, and these charges, and particu
larly the first, from the very nature of tn,
case, can with difficulty, and only at rare in
tervals, be substantiated.
! The defects which have been enumerated
and they are not all that could be mentioned
! not accidental, but essential defects of th
system. They are defects which may we'll b,
tolerated in causes of public nature for tn
sake of insuring the perpetual sovereignty 0
the peoples but which in the trial of privat
/ suits are a burdensome and growing evil
"After all, says Blackstone, '1t must b
owned, that the best and most effectua
method to preserve and extend the trial b.
jury in practice would be by endeavoring t.
remove all the defects, as well as to improv
the advantages incident to this mode o
inquiry. If justice is not done to tn
entire satisfaction of the people in thi
method of deciding facts, in spite of all en-
comiums and panegyrics ON trials at the com
mon law, they will resort in search of tina
justice to another tribunal; though more dila
tory, though more expensive, though NOR
arbitrary in its frame and constitution.
justice is not done to the crown by the yer
dict of jury, the necessities of the publ
revenue will call for the erection of summar
tribunals"
1t remains to be noted that trials of civi
causes before court without jury is no un
tried experiment even in this country an,
England. The immense commercial and in
ternational interests which are adjusted in tn
admiralty courts are not less wisely nor les
satisfactorily determined because they are de