The record-union., 1896-09-27

Astrakan. The Government by this or
der Of the Senate really announced
its confidence in the jury system.
In June of last year in a public gar
den in Astrakan a magistrate, Chern-
iokoff, shot and wounded a Government
fair happened when Bistroff had been
dining with the magistrate and his wife
and two other persons, and it happened
after very heated discussion between
the two men. The wound received by
the attorney was serious, but happily
he recovered after a long sickness.
This shooting scrape was the wind
up Of a scandal in which the attorney
figured as the Don Juan, and the wife
of the magistrate as the unfaithful one.
She confessed her guilt to her husband.
This led to a series of meetings between
the two men, in which anger on the one
side and defiance on the other were the
chief elements. Finally it was ar
ranged that a duel should settle the
matter
This being agreed to, strange as it
may seem-and it sheds some light on
the morals and manners in domestic
life in Russia-the outraged husband
with him and his wife and two friends,
assuring him that the discussion over
dessert slxuld be entirely peaceful and
friendly. The invitation being accepted
Coolly discussed.
Just before preparing to leave, Bis
trOff invited the husband to bring his
Wife and two friends and meet him
al his club the next day, where he
y ould make an explanation that he
thought would render the duel unnec-
essary. That meeting took place and
the explanation was offered, but proved
anything but satisfactory. High words
followed; and in the end the shooting
All these facts were laid before the
Russian jury But the magistrate en-
pIoyed as his attorney the leading ad-
vocate Of st. Petersburg, M. Andreiev-
sky, and his adroit management and
effective speech prevailed with the jury
and a verdict Of acquittal followed. The
st. Petersburg ''Novoye Vremya" says
Of the plea Of the advocate:
He argued that in domestic affairs
complications sometimes arise which
neither jurists nor philosophers can
solve by the application of ordinary
legal principles Life itself finds the
solution, and life is broader and greater
than legal systems or moral codes
OF course the shooting was Illegal and
if is true that men cannot be allowed
10 take the law into their own hands.
But there are cases " hich justice and
conscience are bound to place outside
these safe general rules of law and
order. The seducer's crime was more
serious to society than that Of his as
sailant, and there is not jury in Rus
sia which, following the dictates of
reason and conscience, untrammelled
by legal principles, would convict a
man who defended the honor and integ-
rity of his family under such peculiar
circumstances in an unlawful way.
The outcome, we are told, has greatly
displeased the Government. The lead
ing journals comment upon the verdict
as an outrage upon justice and demand
that the laws be reformed so that law
yers shall not be privileged to ask
statute, and to set up higher morality
than the code prescribes. They say
that the jury failed TO justify the con-
fidence placed in it by the Government,
ter had the case been tried without
jury.
The case, as we have said, has stirred
Up all Russia, and is being widely
commented upon daily, both in de-
fense of the jury and in condemnation
cr it and in support of the position as
sumed by the magistrates lawyer and
against it. But right here the sugges-
ton will come to every mind, latter
all, was the attorneys plea different
from that put up by lawyers in our
OWN county, anu NdS life NcIdlCl III
harmonious with the findings of Amer
lean juries in such cases?'' The hus-
band is rarely if ever punished with US,
for, taking the law into his own hands,
and juries are not TO be found with US
who return verdicts Of guilty in such
cases. How wide a distinction, then,
is there between the practice in law in
such cases in Russia and in the United
S,tafas2