New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-07-19
MAJORITY VERDICTS.
Why rNANIMITY SHOULD NOT BE RE-
OIuRED

RFouIREMENTs--uE RULE NRvER sArisFAc
TORY To yURIsTs IN GREAT BRIrAiN-rHk AID
NrNrsrR,TIoN OF LAW MPEHLED By 'hh
PRESENT SYSTEM.
To the Editor Of Ths Tribune.
SIR: The protracted trial OF the action OF
Milton a Beecher in tln Brooklyn Court wmch has al
sny time been liable failure by the sickness or death OF
spy one Of the jurors furnishes fresh and sufficient req
son for the enactment OF statute removing the common
law necessity of entire uuanimity Such statute mas
been enacted by the Legislature Of California ana pro
posed other state Legislatures and In the Far
hanet OF Great Britain The following are some OIL 'he
prominent reasons for such law:
Perfect unansnity required IN the countries
in which petit traverse juries for the ral OF ci' anu
criminal matters originated. Eminent writer's upon
jurisprudence greatly divided IN opinion respecting
the maternity Of the original idea Sir William BLACK
stone accredited paternity 10 Athens IN the Gays Oh
Scion his opinion that the dcass 50 Called Sc
Ierted from Of ATKINS reduced by selection
particular performed substantially tEc
Office of modern jurors Their original ideas OF democ-
rcy prev allied and verdics well choices OF rulers
were according TO the majority of voices Other writers
of equal eminence and credit refer the origin u Rome
They say with force that the JUDGES Of the Roman
Government not actually judges as Some have sup
posed but temporary selections to determine facts The
usual number Of those $adices was nine, ana
the decision or verdict was renderabe by the d
voices of five. In the Provincial establishments such
Ccia Judea, and Syria. after the conquest OF thOse
and the establishments OF the Empire three per
sons STYLED answered for jurors The procon
suls and procuratOrs the judges. According 10
some ancient historians Pontius PLATE then procurator
for Jude was removed from office in disgrace and ban
isled Gau where he killed himself, for presuinng 10
try without Fesus his successor In
Office began the trial of st. Paul with three asses
pors Jurors the time the latter appealed to CRsar
(Acs, ch. 25. II the rule of the home government III
respect vcrdcts prevailed in the Provinces may be
reasonably presumed that two Of those assessors could
render verdict And II is well certified as any other
fact relating to those conquests, that when the Roman
Government conquered country and subjected to Its
political authority, it planted in il its own j'"d CT
inSta appears TO be conceded, therefore, by those
who accredt the origin OF jutes TO either Athens or
Rome. the bodies which performed the office OF
Jurors in both the majority rule prevailed
Nearly all the German law writers insist that the idea
ORIGINATED with the SaxOns and that il imported by
them into England, from which it came "a u.s. Very lit
known about that, however, except that the old
saxons had time out OF mind. an appendage to ther
jurisprudence styled compurgtors and that the number
of those cOmpargatOrs twelve That claim for the
saxons may have shadow Of validity but recent ex
plorers Of what once the old kingdom of
Normandy have found in that country traces of
ancient trials by jury in nearer resemblance to our
modern trials by jury than anything known to have |
existed among the Saxons Moreover, II has been clearly
ascertained that with much variety Of form, modes of
trial essentially similar that by jury prevailed among
both the Teutonc and Scandinavian nations from very
remote antiquity AS ali those nations had pat III the
colonization is reasonable TO presume that Jurlspr
dental ideas from all OF them were TO some extent con
densed and systematzed in the jury law of England
during the reign of the second Henry The product
OF all the researches into that field OF inquiry by all anti
guardians OF character appears TO be their unanimous GER
ticaie that in Greece, Rome, Normandy, and in
the TeuOnc and scandinavian nations, the agreement
Of majority of jury, what answered for jury,
was sufficient to constitute verdict
ENGLISH VIEWS.
2 The which requires entire unanimty to consti-
ue legal verdict entirely satisfactory TO the
uriss OF Britain 1t said by Chancellor Camp
bell several years in the British Parliament that the
origin of peculiarly requiring entire unanmity
then unknown. there were ever any sound reasons for
they have irrecovcrably lost. No sound reasons
for be cOnectured even except that al some
remote period wall of IL men was needed as shield
t. ptoect vassas against the rapacy of barons sub
ects against tyranny Of monarchs But such shield
is needed in country where there are neither bar0ns
nor monarchs. Chancellor Campbell alleged that, 80
far as he could learn, il had never been /
any time satisfactory to the judges OF England but
was particularly obnoxious to some, and among them
Lord Mansfield as the advantages of the rule did not
compensate for The mscLets which sometimes resulted
He therefore introduced bill 70 authorize verics TO be
rendered by threeOurtbs Of the entire number in crim
MAJ cases and by bare majority in civil The measure
bas not yet received the assent OF both houses OF Pa
mept a6 has not yet become law in Great Britain bnt
II 10 sald bv the Enesh papers that as public opinion
ripens the number Increases Tie project
of modification recently received fresh Impulse ny
book written by Barrieter Sheldon Amos OF Londcn on
the Science Of Law" in which ne ua.cs the following
forcible AZ well az critical surgoStions
The questions 10 The numner G. persons required 70
constitute jury, and q to the gInplF 81 lTyleh lf-
CURED to verdict, que 0ns rather OF cal
eu be convenience than Of political principle. large
nuInber however may well be required 10 constitute
ury for trying the heavier crimes; and instead or r.
q,a , =, m 1,Is seem rnd in o-der 20 nravide
or4tna IA ~ltH
ignorance or rratiOnality. On X, ~ $50
II the learned commentator had used the phrase "juc
rial expediency" instead Of caculable
he would have the mark. But it word
In the direction the late Chancellors legal reform BILL
and proceeding it does, from professor of jursIr
dence University College, II Ia authority so far as
goes. The baTrsters of England very conservative
and habitually jealous Of Innovations upon time
honored ideas there exists progressive element in
the fields and workshops which pushes them along They
hasten very slowly but nevertheless move II is not
presuptuous therefore, predict that the jury law Of
Great Britain will amended IN this respect before the
end Of the present decade
JUSTICE IMPERILED.
g. The rule impers the administration Of law and jus
dee. upon that account that Lord Mansfield de
pIored existence. Lord Campbell desired its mod
acatiou perceived during his proracted and
DISTINGUISHED service the English bench that the rule
subjected the sovereign in criminal well suit
civil actions, 10 the contingencies OF sickness or
any of IL jurors during proracted trials,
~ well the ignorance caprice corruption. lreju
dice Irationay of one of them after they re-
ceved in charge 1t is related in the Lives of the
English Judges that all Of those contingencies occurred
more jurors in attendance at his courts
At one OF his terms upward OF dozen civil
fell through after having been partly tried by reason
OF the sickness OF jurors with the smallpox, and at
another nearly many trials came TO naught by