Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1875-01-01
lCommunica.cd.l
L JURY

OCR JURY
If we may be permitted to use the in
elegant but forcible ph~raseology of the
West, we may properly derominate
u present jury system as an "un-
mitigated blk" 1t is little else than a
travestie on justice and a perversion
of common sense. Here, in this new
country, unfettered by an iron bound
prejudice and untrammeled by the
time-honored red tape of precedent, we
may afford to take II departure"
and abolish partially, if not entirely.
q system which is unapplicablc to the
advanced condition of our civilization.
We are all consciously or uncon
sciously iconoclasts, and as a nation
we are entirely fearless in the contem-
plation if not the adoption of new
theories. As regards the verdict of a
petty jury, in any given case, it has
passed inio a proverb amongst the le-
gal profession that, no matter what
the evidence, 40 ma can foreshadow
the result any more than we car read
the riddle of the Sphinx or solve the
problem of oEdipus. The seemingly
requisite qualifications OF a juror i'll a
criminal case are: First. besotted iguo-
rance. a far less than average grade of
intelligence, and last. a morbid sensi-
bility to the woes of ielons and male
factors: the seemingly requisite quail
fications fora civil juror have. as sub
stratum, the same charming character
isticS, and in addition u defective moral
sense, with a childlike susceptibility
to the patent influence ofthe almighty
Why is it that so many of
u felons so unwhipt of Justice? Why
is it that 1.-THE longest purse rakes the
persinmon - Why is it that for a
personal grievance each man seeks Ito
become a law unto himself?' Why
we have Vigilance Committees?
Whence the Il for so prevalent a
disregard, not TO say contempt, for the
law and the officers ? In our opinion.
we would answer all these are mainly
due to absurdities Of Il present jury
system. We leave out OF contempla-
ton. fer the present, the nieeties and
technicalitieS of the law, which. if
founded, a the legal lights say, on alb
stract justice. are, 10 the practical mind,
of too abstruSe a nature for every day
use, and shall content ourselves with a
reference to some OF the incon-ruities
of the present system; and first as to
the material Of an ordinary
jury: what man of sense or
in affairs would pick out
such a motley crowd to attend to his
business? How many of them
would he make his personal agents:
He does, in fact, make them his agents
when he submits TO them the arbitra-
ton of his legal differences. The iu-
rors are judges of facts. of the credi-
bilitv of witnesses and of the meaning
of the instructions of the judge. Such
should have, if not trained minds,
which is desirable, at least Il more than
ordinary mount of common sense.
And then, to lock a ma up and cut
him OFT from his home and associates,
if not a species of tyranny. is at least IA
tacit stab at his honor and more than
an implication that he is too weak to
thrust aside the allurementS Of bride.
When Il case is bad the attorney for the
wrong side always asks for jury trial:
the II party is rich and int1uen-
tial and the other poor and unknown,
the party of the first part always asks
a jury. 1t is easy to complain, but
where is the remedy? We answer
abolish the trial by jury entirely. ex-
cspt perhaps in criminal cases. Let US
have, as i'll the recently adopted New
York scheme OF arbitration-tWo ar
bitrators, sitting with the judge. as a
court, the majority of whom shall de-
eide. Under such a practice we shall
have. in the first place, fewer litiga-
tons, and in the second. more justice.
The courts. under such circumstances.
will cost the people, as a community.
much less money; the litigants can
pay the arbitrators equally. half and
half, and the expense to them need be
little o than the usual fees and mile
aye to the twelve jurvmen.
The wOrthle>sneSs of the preSen;
system is a matter of daily comment
amongst men of ense: the cos. is
frightful, and the usual amount of
justice intiniteSimal. We of the from
tier are a practical people. We have
lost faith in the idols of a tossllized
conservation. and with our vigorous
vitality we may make changes, adopt
new ideas, and fearlessly express the
dictG of common sense. without
crouching like a felon before the scare
Of precedent. DE REEFS.