Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-11-01
TIE JURY SYSTEM.
Is Ii a Failure!
From the Philadelphia Press.


From the Philadelphia Press
The fiasco made by the Jury i'm the star route
Cases has created a very widespread disposition
to overhaul that ancient institutiOn-trial by
jury No lawyer ever loses an important case
In which his interest was conferred, and his faith
was strong, without having his faith i'm the Jury
system temporarily shaken. The whole country
was interested in the star route trial. The evil
dence against the defendants seemed complete
and overwhelming: but the twelve jurors could
agree upon it only as it affected two of the
subordinate actors in the conspiracy. To have
such long, expensive and important trial come
TO such an extraordinary termination naturally
inclines men to doubt whether trial by a jury OF
the vicinage Is such glorious institution as we
have been all taught to regard it.
Judge Dwight Foster comes to the defense of
the jury system in the November number of the
North american Recie5c; while Mr.. Albert Stick
ney in the Century endeavors to show why trial
by jury should be abolished. The latter writer
holds that the jury is q feudal institution and
out of date; being no more suited to this day
than the stage coach and sailing vessel. 1t is,
he says. clumsy device unSuited to an adjust
ment of the innumerable complicated cases re-
Quiring an adjudication under the great COM
mercial development of modern times We
suspect that Mr. Stchney entirely misappre-
hends the province OF the jury. 1t is not usu-
Is other legal machinery for that very pur-
pose The province of the jury is now, as it
was in the beginning. to pass upon q single
question Of fact. Whetlers something was or
was not done IS the matter to be determined by
the jury. and it is in most cases. as easy to pass
upon such question to-day as it was one hum
dred years ago. The chief exception to this ia
the class OF cases in which the jury has to RELY
upon the testimony of experts. There is much
to be said in favor of dispensing with the Jury
IN hos.
which juries have to do their task is, il any
thing. simpler than 1t was in the early DAYS of
jury trials Many of the legal fiction that once
bewIldered them have become obsolete: the
rules OF evidence have been modified, so that the
Truth Is more easily arrived at. and the enlarge
ment of equity practice has relieved iuries OF
what was formerly their most onerous duties
Whatever theoretical objections may be urged
against trial by jury. the great body OF lawyers
and especially of successful LAWYERS are strongly
In favor OF it, Judges and textbook writer's
have so long and with such unanimty pro-
Claimed its merits that to question them seems
something like heresy. The professional Jurors
tnat haunt our city court rooms. and the stories
of jury hxers that are becoming altogether too
common, are doing much to unsettle the public
faith In the much Wanted virtues of juries
But then 1t cannot be denied that even i'm
our cities the verdict of our juries give quite as
much satisfaction as the decisions of the Judges
Neither are lnfallible. and on questions of fact
twelve jurymen are quite as we'll able to arrive
2t the truth of the matter or strike a fair aver
aGe as the judge. They come to each question
with minds unjaded by long service and filed
with sense of their responsibility and the i'm
pOrtance of their decision in the particular case
before them, which Judge hearing cases week
In and week out cannot have. No class of men
would be more unwilling to abolish juries than
the judges themselves. They feel that they
have already sufficiently grave responsibility
resting upon them. and would be exceedingly
10th to add to their duties the thankless task of
determining the facts in the endless cases which
come before them.
How WALKING was Once Regarded in
England.
From the st. James Gazette.
Since the peace of 1915 from which period
or, indeed from few years earIier-Mss Nit
ford's correspondence dates, remarkable changes
have indeed taken place In English society.
One OF her most intimate friends, Sir w Elford.
had undertaken a crusade against Waiting
which he was sure would never be tolerated in
this country unless the moral feeling OF the
country had undergone change"
While Byron attacked 1t in a famous poem
Slr W. Elford wrote in prose satirical history
OF It's origin Everybody condemned it, and
Miss Milford of course among the rest II
danced Itself into fashion all the same and that
very rapidly IL was the first innovation intro
duced into England from the Continent after the
great peace, and there was significance no
doubt in the welcome it met with as foreshad-
owing the acceptance of others from the same
quarter.
One of the best Of the poetical diatribes d.
rected against the waltz was from the pen Of
Sir W. ElfOrds friend, Sir HI. Englefeld. It is
supposed to be addressed to man who has
been surprised waltZing with the poets mis-
tress-tO the man, that Is to say, and his guilty
partner conformity; and it concludes as follows
What. the girl adore by another embraced?
what. the Balm OF her breath shall another man
taste?
What, pressed IN the dance by another mans
knee?
what. painting recline on another than met
Sir, shes yours; you have pressed from the grape
Its fine blue;
Prom the rosebud you've shaken the tremulous
dew;
What you've touched you may take Pretty
waltZer-adieu!1
II seemed as improbable In those DAYS that the
waltz would ever become a favorite and even a
popular dance in England as that the system
Of Thanking letters would go out. OF that
America would come to be looked upon as a
country which well-bred English people could
visit without fear of being shocked.