New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-06-05
".INRY EIXING.N


There are good reasons for fearing that the
somewhat sensational story told in other col
umns of one form of abuse of the jury system as
carried on in the large cities of tins State Is not
an overdrawn and too highly cOlored picture.
On the contrary there is abundance of other
evidence than that cited TO show that this
corruption penetIates our courts from the low
est to the highest and that cur method of
selecting and drawing the panels of jurors Tor
the various courts and of choosing the petit
iuries TO try cases, is susceptible of the most
fragrant abuse. 1t is doubtful if in the admin
istraion of justice there is any part OF the system
more loosely conducted than the drawing OF .he
panels of Jurors. In the first place the list Is
made up, at the beginning of each year, i'll a
slovenly manner by the clerks of very irrespOn-
sible officer The City Directory and the poll
lists are the principal sources Of information
| as to the names, residences and occupations of
those subject to jury duty. Allnames 90 on the
lst irrespective of character, antecedents or
eligibility and thus in the course of the year
many hundreds of persons are drawn who IRE
| legally disqualified from serving by inability
to hear, to speak or understand English, and
because they are unnaturalized. OF course the
|
month after month and year after year entails
| considerable public expense, and benefits only
| the servers of notices, who get n fee for
each person served, and consequently
| keep the names on the list. 1t also embarTasses
| the courts when panels are thus encountered
| with unavailable men, and leaves them with
| out sufficient jurors for the work to be done.
| The professional jurors of whom there
are many more than the public would believe
| if the number were stated-get on the general
list in spite of the close scrutiny of the Judges
who annually revise it, and turn up for duty
| with remarkable regularity month after month
| in the different courts. 1t is evident that they
| do not get drawn by chance and that they are
solicitous for such duty because they have no
other occupation; but is it not to be presumed
| that such Over-wiling men are open To corrupt
influence The general list is also encum-
| bered with the names of thousands of men
who rather than perform jury duty willingly
nav a fine to the Court or a fee to the "noticC
server to be excused, or, in the words of the
officer, are returned not found or mot served.
These are usually busy men, and most OF
them of the best material for jurors, but then
services are thus lost The usual penalty fol
| OlSObcdlGnCt OF IL SIllllO1S Is tpDO Bul 20 OF
even SIC to a notice server " will secure ex-
emption without the trouble Of the juror APP
plying to "a Judge. There are various methods
of fixing juries which the officials are re-
sponsible for, and they result in producing an
inferior lot of jurymen.
Politics, too, enters largely into this
question and 1t is not uncommon TO find q
Grand Jury selected for the particular purpose
Of inquiring into the working of city depart
ments either to condemn opposing politicians
or to protect partisan friends III office. 1t is &
specially Objectionable feature of the system
that the Commissioners Of Jurors both i'll New.
York and Brooklyn are active politicians
when they ought 10 be rs Indifferent to al
political considerations as the Judges on the
bench are supposed to be. 1t is saying nothing
against their personal integrity to assert, wha
they will probably not deny, that being thu
partisan they are susceptible to political intiu
ence; and that the lax system Of their Offices ii