The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1909-06-21

sion under the circumstances presented here
but citizen who gives full and patnotic
consideration to the land in which he lives and
the institutions which guarantee him liberty
and the right to pursue happiness in his Owl
way can, upon full reflection, have any JUST
occasion to find fault with those requirements
which the law, in its wisdom, drawn from the
experience of ages. has prescribed
And think that this further observation might
be made, and it is that after the jurors have
recovered from the fatigue of their confinement
and the effects of their arduous iaoors they,
too, will realize that any juror who conscien
tiously performs his duty, and whose con-
science rests easy after duty faithfully per
formed, will have that reflection to carry
with him through the remainder OF ais LIE. II
affords example for other citizens.
1t is but too apparent that in this country those
who thrive most under the benefcenc of our
laws are the least ready to render that service
which the government has a right to expect
at their hands and I trust that your patience
because it has been nothing else, considered
under the trying circumstances under which
you have been placed-will furnish an exam
pie to others, and part with you at this time
with expressions of oonsratulation that your
labors are at an end and that your relations
with the court have been agreeable.
There is another thing l think jurors ought to
keep in mind, because the subject is becoming
serious one, and il is that the hardship does
not arise so much from the necessity which
the law recognizes that Jurors shall be. with
drawn from their activities and kept in con-
fnement, but it is the extraordinary duration
of judicial proceedings. The courts utterly
helpless to obviate that very great and growing
evil.
There must be something wrong in thu laws of a
state where it takes three months to impanel a
jury to try any issue; and think that the
necessity of the hour is that the people should
take some steps toward the simplihcation of
judicial procedure, so that instead of occupying
three months to procure jury it could be Sc
cured in as many days, If that be done, and
if rules which are slavishly followed today be-
cause they have been adopted in the remote
Z past were ncdiied; there would be less occa-
sion to complain of the hardahirs incident to
the discharge Of jury service and the duration
Of judicial proceedings.
The defenders of the jury system give as one
of the best reasons for having the law admin
istered through the jury box that the citizen
ship itself is administering the laws, and that
this duty will be faithfully or faithlessly per-
formed according to whether not the CON-
munity is faithful 10 the law, because the IL
men in the box bear some proportion to the
entire population of the community, and those
IL men, under the theory Of the law, are
drawn from the various 'vooations in the COM
munity. They representative various shades of
sentiment and the spirit of the population.
If the object of the law is realized in its proper
enforcement, when the jurors meet it may be
regarded the community expressing itself.
Now, if that be one of. the underlying reasons
for the jury system it would seem that the
duty was incumbent upon every citizen to re-
spond to that duty, not reluctantly, not by in
terposing pretexts why the service should not
be rendered. but to consider that it was not
only their duty to render that service but an
honor to be selected fer its performance.
Having concluded his talk to the
jurymen, Judge Lawlor dismissed them
and notified the attorneys for the pros
ecution and defense to appear in court
this morning at 10 o'clock, when some
agreement will be reached regarding
the trial of the case entitled The Peo-
pie VS.. Patrick Calhoun.