The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-09-13
ABOUT JURY SERVICE AND THE
JURY SYSTEM.

A few weeks ago this paper commented
with approval on the action of Judge W.
r. Allen in declining to excuse promi-
nent business men from jury service. In
every case he first appealed to the bust
ness man to withdraw his request and
pointed out to him that the preservation
OF justice in our courts depended upon
ha' wing intelligent and capable jurors of
all callings. In most instances the re-
quest to be excused was withdrawn, the
inf uential citizen served and after
wards felt glad that he had not shirked
his duty.
1T Richmond County Superior Court
last week Judge Cooke, when prominent
citizens asked to be excused from serving
on the jury, declined to grant their re-
oues ts In deciding the matter Judge
Cooke said that he thought all business
that. in fact, he didn't think a man who
did not have some sort of business was
fit to Sc rye on the jury. He said also that
he had observed that great deal of the
criticism of the verdict of juries and of
the Jury system had come from business
men, who were always the first 90 try to
shun jury duty, and that in his court
he purposed to have them render some of
the verdicts themselves AS result a
bank officer was foreman of the grand
Jury and a prominent merchant helped to
return true bills against men for carry
ing concealed weepns," and other of
lenses against the peace and dignity of the
state, says the Rockingham Anglo-Saxon.
Talking some days ago with the chair
man of the board of commissioners of
Wake county this writer enquired if the
number of persons on the jury list was no<
too small. He said that the board had
carefully selected it in accordance with
the law. I'm Raleigh he said, 1--WE did
not put on the names of a number of
prominent citizens because we did not
see any sense in mourning the cost of
cused from jury duty by the Judge There
| is Mr. B. If his name was put on
the list the judge would be sure to ex-
cuse him. What is the use of putting
men on when experience shows us they
will be excused?'
The chief trouble with the jury system
has been due to two causes: 1. The desire
upon the part of leading citizens to escape
| jury duty, and their ability to do so
and 2 The wrong challenge law which per-
mits shrewd lawyers in cases against des-
perate men to exclude the best men from
the jury box. The action of our judges
refusing to excuse influential men will do
much to improve the quality of the juries
and we wish to commend our judicial of.
adopt this plan and adhere to it, there will
be less ground for complaint of the mis-
carriage of justice If we can elect a
Legislature that will repeal the present
absurd challenge system, which gives to
men accused of crime too great an adj
vantage over the State, it will do very
much toward making our courts more
effective in Furnishing criminals.
| In the current issue of Munsey's Ma
gazine, Tudor jerks, Esq, discusses the
jury system and suggests a radical depart
ure from present methods. He proposes to
substitute in lieu of the present method
of drawing jurors from the county that
the jury should be made up of"men train
ed to decide matters of fact and evidence
as legal judges are now educated to decide
questions purely of law" In answer to
the suggestions that the plan proposed is
| Revolutionary" Mr.. jerks says:
'Is it not in line with all modern pro-
gress? We have long passed the days
when every man was a jack of all trades.
The decision of controversies upon weight
of evidence, and the nice estimation of
theories, is expert work and should be
| done by those educated, trained and ex-
perienced in such matters. After all, law
yers, in order to present their clients
| cases to juries, are trained in precisely
this ability. They learn to sift evidence,
| to estimate credibility to decide upon the
relative probability of opposing accounts;
they, in short, are trained jurymen, and
need only the laws sanction to perform
the functions now blunderingly botched
by the haphazard laymen.'
Summing up his plan, which he elabor-
ates, Mr.. jerks says:
LET there be a professional jury bench,
made up of men learned on these branches
of legal lore and civil and criminal codes
that teach the correct determination of
issues of fact. Let the lay jury be abol-
ished and all issues of fact be made triable
before bench that shall determine these
issues, and these alone