The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-03-26
THE JURY SYSTEM DEFECTIVE.
NEED OF CHANGE IN THIS I'M
PORTANT BRANCH OF COURTS.

. court OficIaI Tells Why Ii Is That
a More Desirable Glass of jury
non Cannot BE Secured-TOo
Many Exemptions the Main Cause.
Judge Norwood Discusses the Evil
md Laws Down a Plan Which, He
thinks, Would Not Only Improve
,hc Jury Box, but Would Tend
largely to Removing the Object
tons of Business Men to Serving
UpOn Juries.
THE most needed reform in Chatham
county lust now" said court official yes
,eriav. lis in the jury system. The jury
system is at present, without doubt, the
r,ost defective branch of the courts Not
that l mean that here is anything corrupt
IN the system or that any fraud is being
practiced in any way, but simply that the
county is being defrauded of the services
of its best citizens by means of the system
NOW in vogue Ii may surprise you to
know that not one man in five of those
who are eligible to do jury duty is rem
dering service to this effect. Theoretically,
avery man, with certain exceptions in
favor OF lawyers uONLoAoB hiA4A49eCAS anu
few others, is liable TO jury duty. AS a
matter of fact, a large majority of the
male adults of the county escape jury
duty"
1T has doubtless occurred to a good
many other people that the system is not
what it should be-" the official said. Re
marks are frequently made unfavorable
IN the material of which our juries are
COMPOSED, but with the constant contact
with the courts necessitated by my posi-
ton. ! am able to see more fully the de
fects of the present system. While, as a
matter of fact our jurieS are composed
Il Of much better material than before the
Il 4urv commissioners were appointed, there
d Is still room for vast improvement. The
Jury commissioners meet as rule only
twice a year, and frequently one or more
Of the members are absent on these oc-
cagions. Sometimes only half the commits
"A sioners are present. The jury law requires
that the commissioners shall take the tax
H digest and shall select from it the names
of all those who are eligible to perform
Il Jury duty. The commission is composed of
very worthy gentlemen, but each member
Fl has only limited acquaintance and there
Il are hundreds of men whose names are up
on the tax digest who are unknown to any
Il of the commissioners. The result is that
n many good men, whose names should be
in the Jury box, are left out and many
others. not especially well qualified, are
put IN.
1T is rarely that a mans name Is re-
moved from the list after it has once been
II placed there. The jury commissioners are |
unable to keep up with the large number
Fl Of deaths and removals, and the result is |
Fl that there are hundreds of names in the !
Fl box of persons who no longer reside here |
Fl You have no idea of the amount of trou- |
n bic there is involved in securing a jury for |
n a new term of the court. Many of the men |
whose names are drawn from the box are
H impossible to locate because they are dead |
III or have removed from the county. OF those |
E who still reside here more than half are |
likely TO be found TO be exempt.
NJ. This jury exemption business is one of |
| the main evils" continued the official lin |
the first place, We have an unusually large |
+ population who are necessarily exempt. |
Besides professional men who are unable |
r to serve there are a very large number OF
a men employed IN the operating depart |
ments of the railway companies, who are |
exempt and also a number of telegraph |
operators who arc exempt for the same |
reason. The most troublesome feature, |
"A however, is the military exemption. Chat |
ham county has more military companies |
than any other county in the state, and |
each one of these is entitled under the |
law to a certain number of military exemp- |
lions The result is that almost every bust
ness man of any prominence is a pay |
member of some one of these companies, |
securing thereby a right to jury exemp- |
',oh' and the county is thereby deprived of |
the services of a very valuable element.
Many people think it is connivance on |
Inc part of the court officials which keeps |
Inc Juries filled with a certain class of |
men. Formerly there was some truth in
ms but not in recent years. The reason is |
'lat me court officers cannot obtain any |
Uher kind, The unemployed, of course,
ale always glad to serve and so are people |
Earning small wages who can add some
lhg to their income in this way. AS
nauef OF fact, out of probably 5000 men
'slDie 10 jury duty in the county, only |
poout tO0 to 800 are available"
rms subject was brought 10 the atten-
noI OF Judge Norwood of the City Court
"u ne at once confirmed what had been
a .,I by the official referred to.
me system now in force is very defec-
i've indeed" said Judge Norwood 'Tf we
au more intelligent class of Jurors the
u.ty would be put to less expense on ac-
ouut OF mistrials, there would be fewer
.ose Verdlcts and as a consequence a
,uaner number of decisions reversed by
supreme Court, The frequency
"n winch some men serve upon iuries
very noticeable. 1t is frequently the
e. INA. .lal man who serves on the jury in
court for term will be found on the
N the other court at the next term
Ivo o'c .a.-'ally happens that a man serves
f. suecesslVe terms in the same court
0~SuIs py reason of the fact that the |
ss are drawn from one box and placed
or J.olner' When one box Is exhausted the
AI1s " ol drawing from the other box be-
r5os. ~ TINS way it happens that a man
trora name was among the last drawn
H. 5Ie hrst box comes to be among the
"Tb oFsWn from the second box"
sudgo ,i nam defect of the system" said
Irs norwood, " is the small available
INST, HsL This is due to the very Iarge
H. 15'9 3 of exemptions enjoyed here and
- W the dislnnlinn H.. - - 1