The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1898-02-08
ESTABLISHED 1879.
FOR ORDER in THE COURT.
A Protest Against Dramatic DemOnstra-
lions In Trials by Jury.

COAAACAArNEe~
lions In Trials by Jury.
There is a practice the universal
prevalence of which in our existing
trials by jury makes Justice a misno-
mer. 1t is a practice whose evils, go
far as can discover, have never been
commented upon, or even appreciated,
by the press, public or individuals.
refer to the whole method by which,
right or wrong, innocence or guilt is
sought to be proved by the counsel on
either side.
Assume, for instance, a criminal case
for the same method is applied,
though usually to lesser degree, to
civil contests. Beginning with the
opening arraignment by the prosecu-
tion, thence through the examination
and cross examination of the witnesses,
the display of exhibits, on to the very
end of the final harangues Of the oppos-
ing counsel, the dramatic is never lost
sight of.
The emotions. not the intelligence, of
the jurors are appealed to throughout.
In typical murder case which re-
GENTLY gratified the morbidly sensational
element Of the entire country the dis
trict attorney arose impressively,
glanced about him ominously and then,
with TREMENDOUSLY tragic voice, proceed
ed to arraign the accused, charging him
outright with the crime, practically as
Stunning without doubt that he was
guilty and endeavoring by the use of
every vile of the orators art to sway
the jury to his mode of thinking And
this before the minutest bit of evidence
had been taken.
Is eloquence proper adjunct to our
Jurisprudence?
Hereto though may be, hold EN-.
phatically and with qualification that it
is not. 1t has no place in hall of JUS
tioe, where, we are led to believe, the
truth and only the truth is to be brought
| out Eloquence, as manifested by ora
tory, is inimioal to truth, which can
only be discovered and established by
calm, unprejudiced and dispassionate
investigation.
Eloquence appeals to the emotions,
and its victories are obtained by trick
ery-the trickery of masterful verbiage
playing upon sensitive but unreasoning
ears.
The claim that cannot be justified be-
fore the reason cannot be valid. Flo
quenoe is the weapon Of. falsity. Truth
and right do not require its use. The
sphere Of eloquenoe is the stage In the
pulpit, before the bar Of justice and in
the hall of legislation it is source Of
unlimited evil.
l hold that for the accomplishment
of justice all the theatric displays, all
eloquence, all exoitants to the emotions,
should be banished from our courts of
law by sentiment if not by regulation.
They have no place there.
Judicial procedure should be along
the lines similar to the investigation of
scientific propositions and discoveries.
The establishment of right or wrong,
guilt or innocence, is something to be
effected by cold. prosaio, rigid inquiry,
step by step, as analogous as may be to
mathematical demonstration,
We shall have to wait long for the
time when this is recognized, but it will
be in the indefinite future, and when
that time does come we may be more
confident that our courts of justice are
such in something more than name
Criterion.