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

and requiring more pains on the part o
olncers OF the court when circumstance.
are such as to make it necessary to sum
mon oy'standers or special juries.''
Thcy Serve for Revenue Only.
Judge Saml. G.. Williams: "In refer.
ence to the article in THE TIMES, unde,
the head Of Dangers to the jury Svs.
tenn, L would state that | indorse sub
stantially all it contains with reference
to the Injurious effects arising from tho
custom OF placing professionals upon
1uries. l have often observed in course
OF my practice that there are set of
Incompetent, ignorant men generally
found loating about the courtroom for
the express purpose OF being placed
upon tho jury list for revenue only'-
who are wholly unfit for tho important
duties deyolving upon them. and in the
ABSENCE of the regular jurors they pen-
orally succeed. But portion of the
blame can be attributed to two causes:
FIRST. The business man, who is quail.
hed and who has been designated as the
regular, fails to appear, or If he does an.
pear goes to the judge with plausible
story and says, Pray have ne excused.
and generally succeeds.
Second. 1t then becomes the dutv of
the sheriff or sergeant to supply his
place, and it, too, often happens that he
does not exercise proper discretion in
MS selection OF substitutes. He casts
MS eye over tho room and finds mono
put the persons first named, who are on
manu-, and, greatly TO their satisfaction,
they are called in. This could be-
avoided by the use Of little moro eau.
ton and industry. But whilst, l thus
concur with THE TINES in the main, l
think 1t quite probable that Injustice
Though, doubtless, unintentionaD has
been done to number of gentlemen,
whose names are published in the list
OF professionals. l am quite we'll salts.
fed that several names appear OF those
who do not belong to that class, but
have been summoned under circum-
stances with which they had nothing to
do, and that 1t would not be Just to
place them before tho community as
professionals
Two Views OF the Matter.
Thomas Nj. Wood: IVES, have read
your article on professional jurors )
There are two views OF this matter, in
my opinion. The question has oven
been discussed by eminent LAWYERS rs to
whether it is not best to have profess
sional iurors-I mean Jurors regularly
employed and paid by the State. l
think the term as employed in the arti-
Gle spoken of is misnomer. a 'protes-
sional juror, as such, would be, should
think juror so employed and paid,
making it his sole and only occupation.
There are jurors in our courts, from
peculiar circumstances of lack OF en-
ployment, misfortune, ETC., who are
willing. and perhaps glad, to get that
sort of emp oyment at times. 1 must
confess that cannot see that this nee
essarily, or even presumably, Implies
corruption or want OF ability. The trut tn
is that in my experience of the courts /
have never known q case of corrupt
bribery OF jurors or q court"
Commendable Action.
S. Hamilton Graves: 81 read with
some surprise the article in THE TINES
on the Dangers OF the Jury SYSTEM I
think it very commendable in THE
TIMES for bringing before the public
this apparent abuse of the most i'm
portant factor of our Jurisprudence
Whether or not injustice has resulted
from tho state OF affairs in the past Is
an open question, That 1t should not
be allowed to occur in future is very
evident. The overcrowded condition OF
our docket in the past fully justified the
court official in returning from the by
ISLANDERS sufficient number OF Jurors
and complete the panel, since delay to
litiGants is often more vexatious and
expensive than an adverse verdict and
justice to the greatest number. II it
cannot BIO to ALL is the theory upon
which courts should proceed. Now
that we have more courts and conse-
Iuently moro time, do not hesitate to
express the belief that tho writ OF
venre facias will be more resorted to
and that in future the professional
juror Will be minus a job"
COLLIDED WITH A FREIGHT TRAIN