The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1872-06-27
Judge and Jury Trials.

Judge and Jury Trials.
Law is the most conservative of the sciences.
Changes come in the course of history with
greater ia7diness ard are submitted to with
greater reluctance, than in any other DEPART
ment of human knowledge. The physical
scientists of the day would laugh at the posi-,
tious held by their predecessors of hundred
wears ago, but the law is essentially the same.
Even religious creeds change with more faci!l-
ty, although the faithful in each age, and In
each persuasion, are ready to swear by the
eternal certainty of Gheir faith. But even the
law must change. This is shown by the hnal
bending of many of the rigid and often barba-
roius rules of the common law, and 66y the
blending with it some of the mifder and more
equitable principles from the jurisprudence oa OF
Southern Europe. And now 1T comes to pass
that.eyen. that much boosted bnlwark of Eng
lish liberty, the trial by jury, has begun to be
questioned. .,
The last Weatmiaser Repieao contains quite
an able and thoughtful article entitled "Frial
by Judge, and Trial by Jury" which goesvery
far toward showing that the trial by jury is no
longer, if it ever was, an adequate mode OF de-
termining legal actions The writer begins
Fundamentally by attacking the famous clause
i'm the Magma Charta providing for the trial of
every Englishman by his peers, and asserts
that, if the sole object of justice was to secure
the release Of the prisoner, no surer means
could be secured than by trying him before
class most likely to be in sympathy with him.
Leaving this, the article discusses the COM
parative merits of the trial by Judge and the
trial by jury. One of the chief advantages
claimed for the trial by jury is the training the
intelligence of the people, and elicitlng their
0Ix,ro
tion for public purposes. Without doubling
the desirability of such result, it may be
doubted if the benefit is considerable, when it
is remembered how very few of the whole pop
ulation are called upon to serve upon juries !;
and granting the BENEFITS to be greater than
they are, are we justified in imposing for the
general good upon the individual citizen 30
heavy burden?
It is also contended by the advocates of ju-
ries that the decision of a judge cannot com
mand public confidence so completely as that
of twelve ordinary citizens; but an answer to
that is that one of the best recognized grounds
of equity jurisdiction, that is of referring a
cause to be decided by q judge and commits
sioner is an inheritant difficulty and per-
plexity.
The probability of bribery is fully discussed,
and it is argued that judge who is man ne
judicial reputation to sustain and profess
sional esprit de corps, is much less apt to be
corrupt than twelve men chosen by hap-hazard
from the community. To show that the trial
by Jury is no guarantee against bribery, album
dant historical reference is given illustrating
the great corruption of juries in England as
late as the reign of Elizabeth.
The writer also contends that the judge ls
necessarily, from his training and education,
better qualified to understand the credibility
of witnesses. The expression of countenanee,
the tone of voice, the manner Of testifying,
and the motives for falsehood in witness can
never be 80 fully appreciated by jury as by
an experienced lawyer. The effect, too, of
unfair and persuasive eloquence Of counsel
must be much less to be feared when directed
to Judge who knows how it is himself, than
to an inexperienced layman. The judge has
also much more inducement to arrive at care
full and Just decision than man torn away
from his business; for while the one feels that
his efforts we'll directed will lead him to fame
and reward, the other must be conscious that
he has nothing to gain and perhaps much 70
lose by his unwilling detention IN the court
room.
1t is likely, the article in question, admits,
that in trials where the State complains of q
prisoner-crirninal trials-the objections to
iuries are of much less force. In such trials
public opinion ought to have some weight, for
at last public opinion is the best guard of pub
lie morals. Then the awful responsibility of
taking the life of human being, even if it be
under the sanction of law, is better to be divi-
ded among twelve men than shouldered upon
one Still the same advantages, in this class
of trials as in others, of superior skill, knowl-
edge, and power of thought, must be admitted
to the judge.
These are strange words coming from an
Englishman, and indicate great change, In
opinion. They sound at first almost blasphe-
nous. The trial by jury has for centuries
been classed with the writ of habeas corpus,
one of the great foundation stones of Anglo
Saxon liberty. But the truth is, the day for
iuries has passed. It may be we'll enough for
iuries in State causes to determine whether or
Hot the act charged was committed, that is
simple; or it was easy enough for them to de-
termine, in the early history Of the common |,
law, the questions which arose in the civil
practice. The contracts, then, were very ele-
mentary and plain, the issues were direct and
clear. But it is absurd to say that in these
DAYS of vast business enterprises, of railroads,
insurance companies and corporations, when
the rights of citizens have been so vastly in
creased and diversified, and when contracts of
great Importance, complexity and detail are
daily being made that tribunal of unlearned
and inexperienced men can deal fairly and
successfully with the questions brought before
them. None but the judicial mind, judcially
trained, polished and unsentilhental, practical
and clear, is adequate to the task.-LouisuilIe
Courier-yournal.
POSTAL CHANGEs.-The postofice depart
ment is now preparing to carry into effect such
of the changes made by the new postal code