The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-05-07
HOW TO PROTECT THE JURY SYSTEM FROM
ABUSES.
ABUSES.

There are only about 1,300-much too
few. There are other counties doubt
| less where the number is much be-
| low the proper requirement. 1t is bet
/ ter to err in putting too many names
in the box than too few. The per-
sonal likes or dislikes of a county
commissioner should not influence
him in the formation of the jury list.
Political reasons should not govern,
but an earnest effort should be made
to make the jury list truly represen-
tative of the good and lawful people
of the county.
The third cause we mentioned can
not be removed by law, but must be
left to the conscience of the citizen.
A man drawn upon the jury should
consider it a portion of his duty as a
citizen to serve, unless some peculiar
| reason exists why he cannot. 1t is
not a lucrative position. 1t is not
| intended as such. The law provides
compensation, not as payment for the
service rendered, but to defray the
| expense incurred while serving the
State for nothing. The State requires
this service of a citizen. and provides
only about enough compensation to
pay board while attending court. But
the State provides that no man shall
be drawn on the jury oftener than
once in two years. If the jury box
is made large and contains all or
| Ya ri oil Of ba in
the county one man would hardly be
drawn more than two or three times
during a life time. He is required
to serve only one week. The maxi
mum of jury service then cannot ex-
coed one week in two years 1t
usually is very much less than that.
The juror is not picked up and sud
| denly rushed into duty He is drawn
and notified weeks ahead i'm order
that he may make the arrangements
to spare the weeks time the State
requires of him in the administration
of justice. The citizen drawn on the
jury should make an earnest effort
to so arrange his affairs that he can
give this short time the State re-
quires OF him. If he needlessly avoids
this duty or conjures up some ex-
cuse to shirk the same, he is not
coming up to the high ideal of citi-
zenship which would be expected OF
him. He Is not only abdicating
duty imposed upon him by the law,
but he is vacating a place on the
jury and making it possible that it
be filled, not by a busy man, having
deep interest in the welfare of the
country and the administration OF the
law, but by some professional juror,
who is thinking of the small compen-
sation the law allows for jury SER
vice. by some man who may
be improperly influence. If we
were to criticise the professional juror
at ALL we would criticise him for
being too complacent, too accommo-
dating, too good natured, too easily
Influenced by the arguments of
friendly lawyer who knows him and
may object to his sitting upon the
next jury if he returns an unsatisfac-
tory verdict. The man who wants to
make a profession of sitting on the
jury must necessarily live on friendly
terms with the lawyers who practice
at that bar After having served
upon a jury once, he can be excused
for that cause any time within two
years. He knows this, and too often
does he feel that if he finds against
the defendant, the defendants lawyer
will not let him sit upon any more
juries. For these reasons, if no 9TH
ers, the professional juror can never
measure up to the full stature expect
ed OF the juryman. The juryman
ought to be a man who does not want
to serve on the jury; who is rather
pleased when set aside; who does not
care whether his verdict pleases or
dispIeases a lawyer, and is best salts
fed when his weeks service is over
and he goes to his home to be called
upon no more at least for two years.
The fourth cause we mentioned is
i'm the hands Of the judges them
selves Every court, judges are call
ed upon to excuse some man from
the jury often the man who asks
to be excused is a busy man, and too
often he is one of the best qualified
and most valuable men drawn on the
| jury The State needs the service of
its busy men as jurors. 1t needs the
service of the farmer who has we'll
titled farm sand who wishes to give
that farm every days attention. 1t
needs the busy merchant, the skilled
mechanic. the hard working laborer.
and if these men are all to be excused,
the important function of public jus
tice will too often be left to idlers
and men who have too little business
of their own. Judges should excuse
| men from jury duty only in excep-
/ tional cases. They can render per
haps no greater public service than
to impress upon these busy men who
would like to be excused from this
! duty the high importance of putting
aside their own affairs for six days
and devotiug those six DAYS to the