Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-07-15
THE CLOWN OF THE LAW"
An Able At acz: on the Jury System.

An Able At ack on the Jury System.
J. Fl. Hopkins writes in The Al6any Lao
Journal: Why should not the majority
control in law as in politics-in juries as in
appellate courts? Too often some fool or
knave will find place on the jury, who,
through intellectual opacity or pecuniary
considerations, will be faithful unto DEATH
and prevent verdict. Trial by jury has be-
come such lottery that it has given rise to
this maxim: eff you have strong case, try
it before judge or referee; if you have a
weak case, try it before jury" Might not
incompetency be avoided and justice more
surely obtained by committing in the judges
the decisions of questions of fact as we'll as
questions of law
This would necessitate an increase in the
number of judges, but to this there could
be little objection. The amount of money
actually expended every year for jurors, and
the amount lost by those who are forced to
neglect their business in order to act as
jurors. it it were computed, would be found
sufficient to pay seven judges at every court.
It will cost more to buy Judge than q
JUROR The Judge is dependant upon the
people; he is their servant, and the dignity
responsibility of the position, and the fear
of detection and disgrace, all tend to render
him invulnerable to bribery and above sus-
picion. If however. as is sometimes the
case, man of low character is raised to the
bench and is induced to sell himself, he at
least sells himself dearly. On the other
hand, juror can often be bought for few
dollars, and the purchase of Juror defeats
justice as completely as the purchase of
judge.
The jury system, as it now exists, is bene-
fetal to only two classes professional jurors
and jury lawyers. Men of the first class
owe to it their subsistence and when placed
upon the jury they maintain the cause of
those who employ them with tenacity
which insures victory. Men of the first
class exist by reason of the system. They
pilot weak case into the harbor of success
on waves of talk. They are guiltless Of
sound reasoning; but they understand how
to play upon the jury and draw forth what
soever music they please. Their existence
proves the defects of the jury system. Be.
fore the higher courts they are powerless, for
the higher courts are swayed by logic rather
than language, while the jury regards logic
with the same feeling which the devil is
supposed to entertain concerning holy
water.
The jury is the clown of the law. 1t is
constantly inventing new and ingenious
tricks for the evasion of duty. 1t is the pa
tron of the joke called Temporary insanity"
and the author of numberless other jests of
a like character. It is never.failing source
of amusement to all except its victims.
There is nothing certain about it but its un-
certainty. 1t has been sneered at and satir-
lied and lampooned and &c ricatured. Judges
have snubbed it, and legal wits, like Curran,
have riddled it with sarcasm in open court.
Yet mistaken conservatism suffers it to
continue its laundering way unchallenged.
Yet such is the reverence for antiquity
that any change or improvement In the jury
system is, to say the least, improbable for
many years to c"me. It has gained too
great a reputation as s'the palladium of lib
erty'' to be hastily abandoned. But the
reverence due to long established institu-
tons ought not to degenerate into blind
worship. However venerable system may
be, those defects which mar it should be
eradicated, and if it is wholly bad it should
be abolished. Judge it fairly then. Crown
it for what it has been; cruelty it for what
it is.