Orangeburg times. [volume] (Orangeburg Court House [S.C.]) 1877-1881, 1878-05-25
The Jury Trouble.

licitor Of the First Circuit, to which
We have the following to say in reply
10 meet an emergency occasioned by
the ruling of Judge Cooke at the
October term of last year, the Hon.
Samuel Dibble introduced bill
which became law OH Goth Dccem-
Der, 1877. The first section of which
reads rs follows:
SECTION I. That the Board of Jury
Commissioners for the County of
Orangeburg, shall prepare new
jury list for the said County, as soon
as practicable, after the passage Of
this Act; and that grand and petit
jurors sha II be drawn from the list so
prepared to serve at the next ensuing
sessions of the Courts Of General
Sessions anil Common Pleas for said
County; aud that the grand id
petit Jurors so drawn shall be held
and taken to be lawful inrnrs for tho
courts aforesaid, in like manner as if
the s;si, list had been pre-, arcd during
the month of January last.
III this section after the word
"Act," the first clause or member
provides grand and petit jurors for
the Courts of General Sessions and
Common Pleas for the january term;
and if the law had stopped here the
ruling Of Judge Mackcy would have
been correct. The jurors drawn
would have been special Jurors for
special term; {and, after the occasion
had passed for which they were drawn,
such juries would cease to exist. The
section however goes OH AMI says in the
second clause That the grand and
petit jurors so drawn shall be held
and taken to be lamfM .jurorS for the
courts aforesaid Chat is the Court OF
General Sessions and the Court Of
Common Pleas) in like manner as if
the said list had been prepared during
4, the month of January last. Here
.Atho- genorie term, courts, is used III
contrast with the specific term, ses-
sions. The jurors so drawn shall be
legal jurors not for tie cSiions atorc
oaid but ;for the courts aforesaid.
Had the Legislature intended the
jurors for the january term or scs-
sions only, there would have been no
necessity for the last clause of the
Act, and the Act would have stopped
at the end Of the first clause; but the
last clause shows unmistakably that
the intention of the Legislature vas
to save tho jurors drawn from the
list prepared under this special Act
until another grand Jury was impan-
nclcd in their stead drawn from list
prepared in January 1878. Such is
clearly the meaning Of the section
and such tie intention Of the Legisla-
ture.
Chap. 139, Revised Statutes, Sec
tions and 2, contains the only law
for drawing a grand jury for the
Courts Of General Sessions, and di-
rects that the Clerk Of the Court of
General Scssi ons III each county, not
less than fifteen days before the term
OF the Court III each, shall issue writs
of rcnirc tacias for eighteen grand
Jurors to be returned to that court,
Chat is the Court of General Scs-
sions) who shall be held to serve at
each term thereof Chat is Of the Court
of General Scssions) Mro"ghom tie
year, until another grand jury is i'm
pannelcd in their stead. This makes
it impossible to draw grand jury
from anykothcr list to serve at the
January term 1878, than that pre-
pared by the Board Of Jury Commits
sioncrs under the Special Act from
which the grand jury, discharged by
Judge Mackcy Oh motion Of Sol lei
tor Jcrvey, was drawn.
Again, Section /, of the Special
Act in question, gives the grand jury
drawn under its provisions, all the
legal force Of a grand jury drawn
tiom a list prepared in january 1877,
and sections 1 and 2 of chapter 139
Of The Revised Statutes, gives this
same grant iury legal force until
aot.-r gratd jury 'npHNDyH i -
b b.