The weekly Arizona miner., 1878-11-08
LEDGE sILENTs CHARiE TO THE
 GRAND JURY.

,n;rous and contains words which are full of wise careful and we'll directed adyice. It is one of those carefully arranged documents that eminate from pure and unpreJudlced source. and calculated to direct those who have the best interests of the people and district at heart, in their proper course Every reader should peruse and carefully weigh each word expressed therein and they will find it a document of more than ordnn- ary conception.
 Gsatlezasa of the Grand Jurg:-The impor- tance of the duties, both in moral and Tn a legal sense, now imposed upon you, Is subject with which every individual of you, should become immediately and fully im- pressed; You are now segregated from, and placed above the ordinary mass of citizens, and invested with powers, that are intendedto be exercised, solely, for the protection o1 the commonwealth, and for the safety and welfare of society at large. The law makes YOU the instrument, by which the aggre- gate community, in it's wrongs and grey ances sustained from individuals, IS to be redressed and righted; by which the trans gressors of the law and good government, is brought to the bar of Justice, and the law abiding citizen protected from false or trivial accusation: No man can be brought to trial for felony. without your verdict to the effect, that the charge made against him, as founded upon or summoned : with such probabilities of truth, as will , warrant you, in temporarily stigmatizins the individual, and justify the presenting , of the accusation for further and closer judicial inquiry. Upon the one hand, you are the guardian of good government and society. Its safety and governmental pur- lity is in your keeping. Upon the other hand, you are the protectors of individual liberty, and entrusted with that shleld, . which protects the citizen against disgrace : and malicious and purposeless accusations. This power may be used by you, perverted ly, or through misconceptiOn and false . sympathy to the injury of society, by screen ing the guilty or arraigniug the innocent; or in turtherance of public, good, by pre- ? senting the guilty for just punishment. Let me further charge upon you, that in entering the jury room, you do so with the ', full conclousness, of the great powers and great responsibilities that are thrown upon ;. you. Assume, as it were a new individual ily, leaving behind you and resisting, all
 influences that might incite your passions or awaken lnordinate sympathy, and all fear of individual consequences, and then enter upon your duties as umpires between
 right and wrong, as judges in the fullest s and completest sense of the word. Dc {: your whole duty. Do it carefully, honestly
 and tearlsssly. Let it be your endeavor, ac > cording to the best of your judgement apc '' understanding in ali the matters that may
 come before you, to meet out equal ant
 exact justice, without sympathy and with
 out passion.
 I will call your attention first to you l. powers and your duties as relating to strict
 Iy crimnal matters.
 Your right of inquiry and investigation
 extends to all public offenses triable in thi: {; county, irrespective of their grade. The
 law has however also given the justice: , courts of the county, whose proceedings arC speedy and adequate, the right to hear ant ' try misdemeanors, instruct you therefor to confine your investigations, to charge: of felony,-thsr is, cases where the punish
 ment is death or confinement in the terri ; torial prison-and refuse to entertain any and all charges of misdemeanors; and il upon investigating charge of felony, you should ascertain that the accused Is guilty of only misdemeanor, disist from further investigation, and remit the complaint al once to the justices court.
 It is your duty to examine into every criminal charge against persons in custody
 and against all others held to answer before you, and who may be at large upon bail ; and dispose of their several cases, by either finding the charge proven or ignoring it
 and also to entertain and inquire into |; charges, which have not been first examined by committing magistrate, and which are brought before you iu the first instance
 and into charges. If brought before you, where the committing magistrate has re- fused to hold the accused.
 But the forum of the Grand Juror, being a secret tribunal, in which the accuscr is not brought face to 1ace with the accused. fur nishes opportunities for the evil disposed, to gratify the ptomptings of hatred and enimity by simply inst;tuting an investiga- tion, without the hope of further results and l instrtist you, that in the latter cIass , of cases, not coming before you through the legal channel, viz. through the hands of the committing magistrate, be we'll as sured before you enter upon the investiga- tion, that the accusation is not made for the purpose of gratifying malicious or re- vengefui feelings, thereby consuming your time and the county's revenue without avail.
 It is also the duty of each individual juror, who may have reason to believe, that public offense triable in this county, has been committed, ito declare such belief to. and bring such matter before his fellow Jurors; and when so brought before you, it is the duty or the jury to entertain and in- quire into 1t.
 In imposing this duty upon the individ- ual juror, and making of you, as it were, special informers, tho law recognizes the fact, that as such informers, you are acting under the solemnity of your oath, and will only exercise this right Tn fur;herance of