The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-11-23

any whose opinions and oathS arc worth
something because they have something
at stake-1 say it is those people who
use every preteXt imaginable to keep
to blame.
VThen, too, these very men who use
every pretext to keep from serving ON
the jury are generally the loudest in de.
nouncing the whole system of iurispru.
dence as sham and farce. How can
they expect justice to be done so long
as the jury that tries and decides the
case is worthless? And does their cri,i
cism COME with good grace when thew
nave shirked their own duty by refus-
ing to serve when summoned?
I'm what l have said have reference
TO mo particular individual; do not
KNOW whether the list OF professionals
in Sundays issue of TIE TINES is cor.
rect or not, for 1 have not looked into
that. But do know that there are
great many professional jurymen here
and also know that many Of our best
citizens shirk their duty by using all
sorts OF pretexts to keep from serving
on the jury. 1 think the judges should
be very careful in making out their list
of jurymen Then when man is sum-
moned and doesn't appear, he should be
fined heavily; and IL he does appear,
and asked to be excused, he should have
q very good excuse indeed before it is
accepted"
Enforce tho Penalty.
j. A Baker: Tho whole matter seems
to lie In tho jurisdiction Of tho Judge.
Ii sixteen or twenty men, as the case
may be, are properly summoned and
there are any who do not appear, the
judge should enforce the penalty, and
then the chronic juror would in short
time be thing of the past. Competent
jurors are to BIO had simply BY onfol cling
the penalty, S25, for non.attendance.
While it is true that men of this class
could always be compelled to attend by
a bench warrant, 1t would be healthy to
remind them that there is penalty for
nonattendance.
1T is the duty of tho sergeant to
summon jurors and if they fail to APP
pear at the proper time, such shonld be
reported and fall under the penalty OF
the law"
A Long. felt Evil.
Phil. Locket: "Expressing an opinion
as to the justification of TIE TINES
article on the evil of professional juries,
| would say that the evil has bcen long
felt yet endured with patience born
OF supposed inability to suggest
remedy. The tendency of TIE TINES
article is to correct this evil since few
men are willing to be considered candi-
dates for seats in the jury box, and if too
frequent service subjects them to that
imputation by the city gazette they
will, II honest, claim their rights to
exemption before their character is thus
established. No man need to serve so
often as to subject him to the obnoxious
imputation OF being professional Juror.
His open and earnest protest against it,
il called, would protect him.
Tho objection to the professional
juror is not that he knows too little and
is therefore disqualified, but that sit
ting around the court room and render.
ing such frequent service for juries, he
knows too much. He fancies himself a
pretty good lawyer and thinks the more
knowledge he has in this way ACQUIRED
of the law the better qualified he is to
render an intelligent and proper YER
dict, while the fact Is he Is in no man
ner concerned with the law except in
obeying.
at was wise provision of the CON-
mon law that submitted only the facts
to the jury for determination and pro-
yided for the composition Of juries
from that clement Of rlain, unprofcs-
sional intelligent class of the commu-
nifty with whom was rightly supposed
to reside honest purposes that emf
nently qualified then for determining
what tho real truth and facts are in any
dispute. and there is not tho least
doubt but justice and righteous ver-
dict would BIO oftener obtained In our
courts If more scrupulous attention
was paid to the personnel of the iuries,
and if man will suffer himself to be
always on the jury he can have no
right to compl ain if he finds that he is
acquiring an odious reputation"
Familiar Faces.
A. Blair Antrim: 1.-The article in THE
TINES showed = startling condition of
things SO far as tho jury box of our city
is concerned. ! havo noticed over
since my practice at the Roanoke bar
that tho faces of jurymen woro nearly
a ways the same, and l have said, as
has perhaps every attorney at ou' bar,
that something should be done in this
direction, as the jurymen heretofore
have been for tho most part what might
be termed professional jurymen.' This
should not be, as it is APP. to load to
miscarriage Of justice. The jury is the
safeguard OF the public and everything
should DO dono to uphold it in its dig
nifty, honesty and integrity. / feel as
ooiSN ohno Siio vi Iub bu
ject by The TIMES will lead to an imme-
diate correction Of this mistake, which
is, too say the least, bad policy. can
not, and will not say whose fault this is,
but out of the number who are set
aside for this purpose it does seem to
me that the same names might be
avoided each time"
"a Wise Step"
j. R. Dungee: THE TIMES takes o
wise step in exposing the evils conse.
quent upon the employment OF profes.
sional iurYmen. In my opinion this