Graham guardian., 1901-09-27
NO. DISCREPANCY.
"A vexatious discrepancy has
been discovered in the new code
concerning the formation and

ol a lt
.n. more t.w 2f During tae
Hast essou 7rtbe iea 5ura Mn
klmDall, OF Granm county, lntro-
duced and secured the passage of
a bill reducing the number required
for grand jury to not less than
13 nor more than Is. The provis-
ion in what was known as the
code bill directing how u grand
jury should be drawn remains the
same as it was in the old statutes.
Section 1915 Of the new code de-
clares that grand jury shall con-
sist of not less than 13 nor more
than 10 jurymen. Section 2795,
being part Of the same chapter
Of the new code, provides how a
grand jury shall be drawn and
directs that the court shall order
that not less than 16 nor more than
| 21 shall be drawn. If the court
orders l6 jurymen, which is the
minimum under section 2795 the
jury will consist Of one more than
the maximum allowed under sec
ton 2775. 1t is to be hoped that
all the Judges will arrive at the
same opinion as to which of these
two sections should prevail in the
formation Of grand iuries. If the
judges all agree there will be
nothing to gain by appeal of
criminal cases short of the supreme
court Of the United States, and our
criminal court business would
probably not be seriously disturb
ed until the meeting Of the next
legislature when the discrepancy
can be cured.--B Bulletin.
The Bulletin seems to have fallen
into the common error, with other
Republican sheets Of attacking
the late Legislature at every OPP
portunity, and the above occurs to
US to be very broad insinuation
against the present Judges.
The Bulletin'S article is SO jun,
bled up that ii is hard TO figure it
out.
In the first place there is no sec
ton in the new code numbered
2775 or 1896, but there are para
graphs of these numbers. In the
second place, these paragraphs are
not contained IN the same chapter.
In the third place, it is not para
graph 2775 but 2776 that declares
that grand jury shall be compos-
ed Of not less than IL MOI more
than 10 men and paragraph 2795
says nothing about the number of
men that shall constitute u grand
jury. 1t says: "The number to be
drawn shall be fixed in the order.
if to form Il grand jury it must not
be greater than 2l nor less than
l6, and if to form trial Jury, such
number as the Judge may direct
not exceeding go"
1t is as absurd to conclude from
the language of this paragraph that
he grand jury shall be composed
Of from l6 to 2l as that the trial
jury shall be composed of 80.
Paragraph 2776 provides that
the grand jury shall be composed
OF between l3 and Is men, and
paragraph 2777 says that a trial
jury shall te composed of Il men,
and in civil cases the parties there
TO may agree that it shall be com
posed of any number not less than
3.
A larger number than are actual
ly to serve on one jury are drawn
so that if few fail to appear and
some are disqualified, as is gener
ally the case, there will still be
sufficient.
IN cmpaneling the grand jury
the Judge will use discretionary
powers as in other cases, 1t
is discretionary with him
to issue the order for a
grand jury. In his discretion he
may excuse as many as he sees fit.
If more than the necessary num-
Der appear the surplus may be ex-
cused. 1t is better to have too
many than not enough. The idea