The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1908-01-17
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7
win take this same company Of men.
and put them in the jury box. and
swear them to try the case according
10 the law and the facts and a true
verdict render. about half the time
they will utterly astound the court
and other court officers by their de-
cision.
IT il our deliberate opieipn, after
some study of the question, that the
Jurors of the country;-men who are
taken from the body OF the people,
are more responsible for non-enforce-
ment of the laws of this country, by
far. than are the police officers. and
courts and lawyers. judges and prose
cutting attorneys. And we do not In
clude In this judgment or criticism
yenal. vicious or corrupt jurors; but
we speak now more of the mistakes
made than of any intentional wrong
done. by jurors.
Now and then you md a sheriff
who insists on deciding for himself
what laws shall be enforced and what
shall be ignored; and what class OF
people or society must come under
the rule of law enforcement, and who
may be exempt. There are some
sheriffs and deputy sheriffs who can
smell a negro crap game for d's-
lance OF ten miles out in the country.
who have never been known to scent
heightened poker game, though they
may pass in yards OF them almost any
time. And the average man will SIT
around and curse and abuse such ON
GERS: land we are not here to say
they do not deserve all they getO
But pick up this same man and put
him In the jury box, and the verdict
he will render, in many cases, Will
put to shame the most terel'ct oc1cer
In Tennessee.
There Is something wrong, perhaps
in the Jury system. To take man
out OF the common walks OF life; one
who has never had much experience
in business affairs or with men; one
who has had no mind training for BAL
ancing and weighing the conflicting
testimony OF witnesses, or for deciding
nice points in law, and expect that
man always to arrive at corr ect
conclusion, is unreasonable. And so,
we think the trouble frequently Is,
that juror does not understand ms
true relation to the case. He does
not mean to violate his oath, but
does he understand the real meaning
OF his oath? Does he know, does ne
realize. that his oath is, or should De
az binding upon him, as the oath OF
the Judge is upon him? What would
he think OF the Judge IL he should
say. 1.-THE strict letter of the law Is
so-apd-so. but l do not believe that
ia right, and so / charge you so-ano-
so?" And yet the same juror VINO
would condemn that In Judge, VIII
take his seat in the jury box, ana
take the solemn oath of a juror, ana
then smillingly and innocently and
unconcernedly return a verdict utter
la at variance with the law and facts
of the case and when questioned or
criticised about it will give a wo-
mans reason, because.
One thing it seems utterly impos-
sible to make the average juror I'M
derstand is, that the Court, (the
.Iudge) is the witness to the jury
of the law Of the case, and that the
iuror is bound to take the law as the
Court declares 1t to be. A juror has
no right to think he knows the law
better than the Judge knows 1t. he
has no think coming to him, along
that line. The Court is the witness
of the law, and the juror, under his
oath is bound to accept the law as I
it is charged. He has no right
moral or legal, to disregard the law
as the Court gives it to him. II the
trial Judge is in error, a higher
court will review the case and cor
rect him. But that is not the pro
vince of d juror And yet mat is
the very thing many of them DO
And in so doing they bring in wrong
verdicts, much to the decentralization
and encouragement Of other faithful
officers of the court When an officer
has gone to much pains and trouble
to make an arrest when the grand
Jury has returned true bill, and the
case comes to trial and the defend
ant makes a confession in open court,
under which confession the Court
declares to the jury that the defend
ant is guilty, and then for the jury
to ignore the judges charge Of the
oil