The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1875-06-10
The Duty of the Grand Jury.
The duties and responsibilities of grand

The Duty Of the Grand Jury.
The duties and responsibilities of grand ju-
ries are much more important than commonly
supposed. In these present times, it seems to
be the general impression that all the grand
Jury has to do is to pass upon the bills handed
to them by the Solicitor or Attorney General,
visit the Jail, and, with lightning speed, look
through the various public Offices, and conclude
their Iabors by making to the Court what is
called a presentment in which general and
vague terms only are used, pocket the money
for their jury tickets, and go home. This is q
great mistake, as will be readily seen by ana
lying the terms of the oath which they are
required to take:
"You shall diligently enquire and tue pre-
sentiment make of all such matters and things
as shall be given you in charge: the States
counsel, your fellows, and your own, you shall
we'll and truly keep secret. You shall present
no one for envy, hatred or malice; nor shall
you leave any one unpresented for fear, favor,
shall present all things truly as they come to
understanding. So help you God"
Passing upon the bills handed out by the
States attorney is the simplest part of the du-
ty of the grand jury. The witnesses are all
furnished to hand in these cases, and all they
have to do is to call them in their regular Or
der, until all have testified, or until they are
satisfied the charge has been made out. But is
this all? By no means. Only such cases are
made out and handed to the grand jury as are
instituted by some prosecutor, who has COM
menced proceeding either because he regards
himself wronged personally, or because of i'll
will towards the accused but what is to be
done about that large class of offences, gene
rally of the gravest sort, in which no particular
Individual is directly or personally interested,
and which because it is everybody's business
is nobody's business? 1t is clear that unless
somebody or some officer brings such cases to
the attention of the Court, offenders of this
class will go unwhipped of justice, and this
class of crime will rapidly increase. In our
opinion, it is the duty Of the grand jury Ito
diligently enquire and true presentment make"
of all such cases. Then upon their present
ment it will be the duty of the States attor.
ney to frame and give out bill, either at that
or some other Court. All their enquiries and
Investigations are secret; every member has
sworn not to divulge what is going on in the
grand Jury room or elsewhere; they shall pre-
sent no one for envy or other dishonest motive,
nor leave any unpresented throug b fear favor,
affection, or reward or hope of reward, but
shall present all things truly, according to their
best judgment. The grand jury now serve for
whole year, so that their labors andinvesti-
cations are not confined to the sitting OF the
Court; but they may make their Investigations
between Courts, that is diligently enquire"
whenever it suits their convenience, and "true
presentment make" at the next Court. They
hold their Office for one year, while some other
officers hold for two and three years. What
they cannot do at the sitting of the Court,
they may do during vacation, as body, or
they may refer the investigation to commit
tee of their number.
But our object in writing this article is to
impress upon the grand jury the duty'of not
waiting for the Solicitor to bring bills of in
dictment before them, but to enquire into all
all the facts, with the names of offenders and
witnesses to the Court, so that bills of indict-
ment may be given out and the guilty parties
punished If each member Of the grand jury
in his neighborhood would make minute of
all violations of the law coming within his
knowledge-such as selling liquor without
license, and offences committed by trial justices
and constables in failing to do their duty, or
making overcharges for fees, &C., and report
the same to the whole body at its next meet
ing, the grand jury, scattered as it is all over
the County, would soon become terror to
evil.doers, and crime would be greatly lessened
throughout the country. The class Of crime
from which our State has been suffering, almost
unto death, ever since the new regime, and
from which it is still suffering yet is that very
prevalent class of corruptions, defalcations,
and stealings in all sorts of ways, committed
by the public officers. AS general thing, no
particular individual is personally interested,
to such an extent as to induce him to make
the necessary investigation preparatory to the
institution of q prosecution, and hence steal
ing goes on. Officers are getting rich upon
their ill-gotten gains, while the people are be-
ing taxed to death. We repeat that it is the
duty Of the grand jury to investigate this class
of crime without waiting for any indictment to
be given out; and, if necessary, it is their duty
to pursue their investigations throughout the
whole year, either as body, or by commit
tee. This course is being pursued in Charles
ton and almost all over the State.-Ringstree
Star.