The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1906-11-07
REFORM STEPS N CHINA
Trial by Jury In Criminal
Cases Recommended
TO HIRE ATTORNEYS

cases keCOmmSMQeIe
TO HIRE ATTORNEYS
Commission Suggests . Separation
OF Criminal and Civil Cases
Study Of Lay Heretofore F7owned
Upon and Lawyers Were Hcs Al
lowed % Argue Cases.
Trial By Jury did not lave It's orig
in in England; the principle Is many
many years older than the Magma
Charta, says the New York Sun Ac-
cording to translation from the
Pei Yang Kuan Pae which the Min
lister at Pekin sent TO the State De-
rartment, containing memorial OF
the commissioners charged with a
revision Of the Chinese code, It orig1-
mated way back in the good old days
Of the Chou dynasty, centuries be-
fore the historic little incident at
Runnymede, but It has not yet been
put into practical operation in the
Celestial Empire The Chinese didn't
want to be In a hurry about the mat
ter.
It was the well beloved Chou who
said, and it is so recorded in his
Rites:
.The officers having jurisdiction
In criminal cases had three ways OF
determining a sentence Of death,
three reasons for the exercise Of
clemeney and three for the bestowal
of pardon, by the use OF which the
Minister Of Crime was assisted IN
hearing criminal cases. The first
method Of arriving ct sentence OF
death was taking the opinion OF the
whole body Of Ministers; the second
taking the opinion Of the inferior
officials; the third, taking that Of the
people"
This, the Chinese commission
holds, was the inception Of the idea
of trial by jury, and 1t so states IN
its memorial to the Emperor in pray
ing for an imperial decree to estab-
lish trial by jury In the empire.
The commissioners not only REQ
commended trial by Jury for criminal
offences but also suggests a separa-
ton Of criminal and civil cases and
different modes Of procedure. They
poir+ out that japan formerly fol-
o. ! the Chinese practice, but that
since the revolution she has followed
in the footsteps Of the West, and in
the twenty-third year Of Ming Chih
she published In succession rules OF
procedure for civil and criminal
cases, with the result that all citi-
zens Of all nations settled there have
become subject to her Jurisdiction.
The cause for this the commission
ers assign to the fact that no one any
longer fails in the settlement CT
suits at law to obtain his rights.
Continuing, the memorial, which
Is regarded as one Of the most i'm
portant steps toward reform which
China has taken in recent years,
says:
I'm China mixed China and for
eign cases are daily increasing in
number and comple1ity. Foreigners
consider our manner Of Judgment
different from theirs, and there con-
stantly arises a difference Of views.
Chinese merchants, too, are not IA
miliar with foreign regulations and
constantly suspect bias, and as such
suspicious accumulate harmony be-
comes impossible. Every lawsuit
growing out Of some trif1ing dispute
becomes a question for international
investigation. There have been in
Vulnerable cases Of this sort In re-
cent years.
The commissioners then go on to
tell Of their examination Of the laws
Of other countries and express the
belief that, with the separation OF
civil and criminal cases In the meth
cd Of procedure and the establish
ment Of trial by jury, foreign coun-
tries will no longer demand the en-
forcement Of the doctrine Of extra
territoriality, an end which the COM
sioners express the hope that
China may attain in order that she
may recover her Jurisdiction in all
cases.
The memorial makes another nov
ell recommendation, which Is to the
effect that lawyers should be en-
ploy ed. This recommendation is dis
tinctly a new departure In China and
places the practice Of law In the en-
pire for the first time upon a respec-
table footing. The study Of the law
has heretofore been frowned upon,
and except recently in. ports where
foreigners reside lawyers have not
been permitted to appear before
courts to argue case.
In explaining why the employ
ment Of lawyers Is advisable the me-
mortal says that when parties to q
lawsuit are brought in fear and
trembling into the presence Of the
court If they say much they talk in
a confused way. Hence they employ
lawyers to talk for them"
The memorial also recommends
the employment Of attorneys who
shall be counsel for the Government
and that definite number OF stu
dents Of good character and serious
minded be trained in the principal
law schools for this purpose.
The various recommendation for
the reforms suggested In the memor-
ial have been incorporated into a
volume Of five chapters, and con-
tanning $50 regulations, which the
commissioners urge the Emepror to
promulgate as the law Of China BY
Official edict.
S- Tpo1opH