New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-07-21
The Jury Farce.

The Jury Farce.
The New York papers are beginning to
speak out plainly about the abuses prac
ticed .npon the community in the name OF
the jury system. In this city we have
been trying to secure modification of our
criminal practice so that justice would
have some show. The following views
from the New York Herald agree with those
frequently expressed by the REPUBLICANS,
and are as applicable to New Orleans as to
New York:
The not unloOkedfor resuIC Of the jury
trial in the case of Stokes furnishes strong
evidence of the little reliance that can be
placed on the proper administrator Of j us
tice under the present system So many
experiments of the same nature have been
tried with a like result that the public con-
science is not SO much affected as might be
expected, or even desired. Still, there Is
abroad a general dissatisfaction that some
conclusion has not been reached by the
twelve men who were obtained with so
much trouble to try this case. The main
facts of file charge against Stokes were adj
mitted bv the defense, and it only remained
for the Jury to decide what was the nature
of the act which Stokes committed when
he shot and killed Fisk. To the ordinary
mind the issue seemed plain one; ;
but, as the evidence of motive II
such cases is always of most conflicting
nature, il is natural to expect that different
men would take different views of the re-
sDOnsibility incurred by one man in shoot
ing down another. Where important evil
dence of a conflicting nature Is certain to
be presented and requires to be carefully
weighed and analysed, it is Of the first I'M
pOTtance that the men to decide on It's
relative value should be of superior IN
telligence. 1t is not enough that they should
be honest and unprecedented they ought
to represent the highest intelligence
of the community. The interest Of the
prisoner, no less than that Of the public,
demands this ; yet the law, as at present
interpreted tends to exclude from the jury
box the only class whose presence could
give weight and authority TO that ancient,
but much Overrated institution.
There can be no question that the present
ruling in relation to the selection of jurors
is made rather after the letter than the
spirit of the law. 1t is evident that the
Trainers of the law never intended that the
intelligent portion of the community should
be driven from all practical share in the adj
ministratiOn of justice. The intent was to
protect the citizen from the malevOlenCe of
personal enemies, and the challenge was
made to meet the case of personal preiu-
accused. No reasonable man will attempt
to maintain that intelligent legislators de-
Iiberately passed law with the intention
of making the life of the citizen dependent
on the stoid stupidity of men who, from
their sheer want of intelligence, form no
opinions on events that agitate the whole
community. This position is too alb
surd to be maintained, and yet the judges
in our courts constantly ignore the evident
intent Of the law and give force to its
literal Interpretation, without a word of
comment or protest. But the vast mass of
the people are becoming tired OF the judi
cial farces which are constantly being
enacted in our midst, and the desire for tie
adoption of some more logical mode of
procedure has grown to be universal, at
least among the classes who do not care to
indulge in the amusement of shooting
down their fellow beings. No doubt the
rowdy element will look with disfavOr on
any change in the present system, which
places at their mercy the lives
of the peaceable inhabitants.
1t is scarcely just that all the protection
of the law should be afforded to those who,
setting all law at defiance, make their own
wills the only guide, while the victims of
their violence are deprived Of all prOtec-
ton. If this state of things continues it
will be the interest of every one to defy the
law and we may look forward to the exc
CutiOn of summary vengeance for real or
fancied wrong as a regular item Of daily in
tellgence. If judges and juries are to be
assembled, at some expense to the general
purse, simply to tell us that they do not
know whether or not killing is a crime. the
sooner we dispense with the farce of holding
courts OF Justice the better. Two ways sug-
gest themselves of curing the present evil,
and we think the moment has come when the
remedy should be applied. The adoption of
rule which would make a tWO-thIrd5 ma
jOrity sufficient to secure the conviction of
a criminal would undoubtedly give a real
guarantee for the administration Of justice.
In addition, the present Interpretation of
the Jury law, which excludes the intelligent
classes from the jury box, ought to be mod
fled so as to apply only to such cases of
prejudice as might be held to interfere with
a jurors returning true verdict according
to the evidence. This was certainly the in
tent Of the trainers of the law, which legal
sOphistry has so distorted as to convert
what was meant to be a safeguard for the
innocent into a powerful shield for the
guilty. With the introduction of these rea-
sOnable changes into our code we might
hope to see abated, if not entirely sup
pressed, the murderOus rutfanism which is
a blot on our city and on our civilization.