The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-07-20
CHANGES.

Everything is eloquent of change. The
Custom House shows the change that
the territorial status brings about. The
postal system shows it, and will show
it still more when we reach house to
house deliveries. The steamers show it,
for some can bring passengers and
freight from the Coast and others cam
not There is a hustle and push in the
air which shows that a new era has
come in, and that things are no longer
to run in the old sleepy fashion, but
that hustle and git" are to be the
watchwords of the future.
Very striking among the changes Is
the revolution in the jury system. Upon
the system of grand jury the Star spoke
some days back; that is an innovation
whose working is decidedly in favor of
the person charged with crime, and as
by no means all people charged with
crime are guilty, it allows the innocent
in many cases to escape without hav-
ing the disgrace and expense of a trial.
The change in the jury system con-
sists in sweeping away the color line.
1t is very peculiar thing that in law
the color line here was most strictly
drawn. Any person, no matter how
small an amount of Hawaiian blood he
had in his veins, had to be tried by an
Hawaiian jury, and the court proceed
ings had to be conducted in Hawaiian.
If the counsel did not understand Ha-
waiian the services of the court inter-
prefer had to be called in, and his eX-
animation of witnesses, though they
might be perfectly we'll able to be con-
Quoted in English, had to be translated
into Hawaiian. The address to the jury
had to be translated from English into
Hawaiian, and an immense amount of
time had to be wasted, while the potent
effect of direct speech was lost. This
has been swept away by the Territorial
Act, and a simplificaHon of our legal
proceedings has been made.
The system led to some odd anoma-
lies. Thus an Hawaiian and an Ameri-
can, both engaged in similar crimes
might be tried by separate juries, The
Hawaiian jury from it's point of view
would regard the crime as venal and
acquit their man. The foreign jury with
an entirely different standard and hold
ing an entirely different point of view
would convict their man, and a very
unjust state of affairs existed. Both
verdicts were legal, but one or the other
was unjust.
Again, class prejudice was fostered by
the system. This was inevitable. Al
American felt he had a peculiar privi-
lege in being tried before men of his
own blood, and got an idea that he
would get more justice from such a
jury. The foreigner took pride in not
having Hawaiians upon the jury that
tried him, and thus an improper feeling
was engendered.
Like all systems, the double jury sys-
tenn arose from peculiar conditions in
the past Those conditions have long
passed away. When the system was
established there were few foreigners
day We're utterly ignorant of foreign
standards, of the mainsprings of action
in foreigners. The average foreigner
was equally ignorant of the manners
and customs of the Hawaiians. He
wanted his trial conducted in English
the native wanted his in Hawaiian. So
the system started.
That it worked badly has long been
recognized. That it led TO complete
miscarriage of justice was patent TO
all, yet every effect made to bring about
a change and effect what the territorial
law has DONE has been defeated. AT
one time, it will be remembered by
many of our older citizens, the Hawaii
an juries made up their minds that they
would not convict, and criminal after
criminal, in spite of the plainest evil
dence, was allowed to go free. But all
that is over now. Hawaiians and men
of American and European birth stand
upon the same plane now, and one more
anomaly is swept away by the presence
of the Stars and Stripes.