The evening times., 1901-05-20
FEARS FOR THE JURY SYSTEM.
4 District Lawyer Sees Evil in In
creased Judicial Powers.

Speaking Of the subject Of abOlishins
the jury system a prominent member of
/ the District bar today said. In the Oma-
ha kidnapping case the remarks that are
reported TO have been made by the Judge
to the Jury ought to require that Judge
to show cause why he should not be sUs-
pended from Office. and the same Is fire.
+ quently true Of the remarks made by
! j. dges in other Jurisdictions. serving with
them
While there IS q tendency at this time
to abolish juries'' the attorney contin-
Ued, and a Judge of tae United States
[ Supreme Court has announced in pub
/ lie speech in the State of Massachusetts
that it ought to be done, the result Of this
tendency is pernicious It encourages
judges to usurp the duties that properly
belong to jur;ys. This usurpation has
been growing for many years but Of late
Z is becoming so frequent and fragrant that
steps ought TO be taken to check and
/ counteTact it.
oar system Of Jurisprudence recognizes
a branch whose province belongs solely
TO the jury and a Judge has no more right
to invade that province than a jury has
to invade the sole province of a Judge
/ There ought to be some way by which a
! judge can be disciplined for interfering
with the rights and duties of a jury,
( equally with the manner and means usu-
ally employed by judges in disciplining
jurors for malfeasance.
The result OF present conditions IS
tending to render juries Of less account
by reason of the fact that judges can say
what they Ike to juries, even 10 the eX-
tent of Furnishing for contempt, which IS
matter of mere discretion with the
judge, while juries can do nothing and
are not permitted TO say anything to
judge who is guilty of contempt TO the
jury.
while much may be said about ele-
waiting the bench by placing Judges out
side politics and giving them longer ten
ure or life tenure Of Office there IS also
much to be said against II.
1t is q matter Of almost daily occur
renee in courts in some jurisdictions for
judges to wholly or partially usurp the
rights and duties of Juries and set aside
verdicts found by them or compel success
full Iitigants to remit q portion Of the
amount awarded IN the verdict by the
jury. All these things judges presume to
do and justify the doing of them because
they say the matter Is lodged within the
judicial discretion and q jury has just as
much right to exercise discretion within
their sphere as a judge within his The
present situation of affairs in regard TO
this matter demands the serious attention
OF lawyers and IaymeIz II this day and
generation when everything tends toward
Capitalization and trusts.
1t is further to be suggested that iu-
ries are more apt to be right than judges.
Comparatively speaking. fewer findings of
Juries are reversed than opinions of
judges, and Just now this consideration is
particularly oppoTtune in view Of the fact
that considerably more than one half of
the cases decided by the District of Co
Iumbia Court Of Appeals have been re-
versed in the United States Supreme
Court.
The new Code of the District Of Co
lumbia is step in the direction Of giving
more power TO judges, and il IS being
studied a great deal bCt the judges and
lawyers are not satisfied with it. For that
reason an effort is now being made to
close the branches Of the Supreme Court
Of the District Of Columbia for the month
Of June and spend that time in revising
the code and preparing to secure repeal
Of portions Of il and amendments Of other
unTTiDUS