New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-03-26

NEW ORLEANS SUNDAY, MARCH 2e ls7i.


Il
THE JURY QUESTION.
EDrT0R kBPuBxIcAx:
lhave read with mach interest your ar
ticlo headed "legal reform, and admire
the spirit Of independence which it mani.
tests. The disposition to attack the most
venerable beliefs, the most time-houored
usages, when the light Of experience shows
them TO b superstitiops, i distinsuishing
.eharaeteristie Of . live, progressive nsws-
paper; but. in maintaining, without any
modification, that 'sfor the interests Of 90
ciety, trial by jury. .should be done away
with" think you go too far. 1t il hardly
fair to condemn system because evils for
eign to it, intent have crept into its work
ings; and, certainly the advantages afforded
by the system Of trial by jury are 20 great
as to make . serious man pause before pro
posing its abolition. Like you, I do not think
it necessary to enter at length into the
history Of it, origin; nor do coasider the
antiquity Of that origin any reason for
maintaining the system, after experience
shall have proved it unfit or injurious. If
it has outlived its usefulness, let it be pro-
nounced dead, and decently buried, a. all
dead things should be, and not galvanized
into spasmodic limitations Of life. But, is it
deadl Haa the time come when it il safe
to leave the administration Of justice en-
tirely in the hands Of judges; to allow them
to decide on the facts, the Law; and the ap-
plication Of the law - the facts in all
criminal cases which may be brought before
themi This would be eliminating COM
pletely from such cases the element of 1.-THE
instructive justice Of hunanity," re-
presented BY the jury, and committing them
to the technical Justice Of the Statistic Book,
represented by the judge. Theobject Of law
is not the punishment Of each person
proved to have violated it, provi-
sions, but the enforcement Of justice
between man and man. Cases may arise,
and in fact often do, when the best ends Of
justice are promoted by tho non-snforce-
ment Of the letter Of the law; and in such
cases the intervention of jury is indis-
pensable; for, as rule, ''the judge looks
technically at the provisional means Of
law"-tho statute-not at s'the ultimate
purpose of law"-justice. Moreover, the
judge has not the same discretionary power
a. the jury, to whom is given the final re-
sponsibility Of deciding, after the law has
been ascertained and the deed violating it
has been proved, whether the application
Of it in each particular case would subserve
the interests of justice or otherwise; for, as
has been shown by one who has thoroughly
studied this subject, 1.-The deed may be
proven and the law may be clear, but it
does not always follow that the application
should be made, for it is not designed that
the full rigor Of every statute should be ap-
piled to each deed done against the letter
thereof"
For instance, there are cases where noble
and good men stand guilty under the Law
for acts of violence into which they have
been hurried BY overmastering passion, the
offspring Of wrongs against which the law
affords NO adequate protection, and which
yet raise in every breast the dercest thirst
for vengeance. A Judge, in such cases,
would most probably enforce the statute in
spite Of the palliating circumstances, while
q fair, conscientious jury would look not
merely to the letter, but to the spirit of the
law, and decide whether that required, in
the particular case under consideration, the
punishment which it allowed for similar
ofFenses. ~
All this, you will say, is no answer to
your objection to the jury system, as at
present conducted in this city, which is,
that it enables criminals to escape too
easily-not that the full rigor Of the law is
too often enforced. Well, let this
be admitted; it only proves that
this system is liable to abuse,
which is surely no reason to substi-
tute for it system still more liable to abuse
and to q much worse form of abuse, undue
severity. Your suggestion Of - bench
of judges" does not mend the matter, for it
still leaves out the conscience of the people
in criminal trials, and RENTS each case to
the cold, hard, unsympathizing arbitrament
of law, ignoring the adage that it is better
that ninety-nine guilty should escape than
that one innocent should suffer. Let there
be reform then, for it is needed, but let that
reform assume some better shape than the
abolition of q system which seems, under
existing circumstances, the only safeguard
against the enforcement Of unjust laws. or
the application Of just ones to exceptional
cases, whore such application would work
practical injustice. LRT.
A Providence man, about seven years