Los Angeles herald., 1910-09-11

"'After hearing the appeal the court
! must give the judgment without regard
to technical errors or defects, or to
exceptions which do not affect the
substantial rights of the parties. On
appeal all presumptions and intend-
ments are at all stages in favor of the
regularity of the action of the trial
court.
"'No Judgment, order, decision or
decree shall be reversed. nor new
trial ordered, by reason of any error,
ruling, instruction or defect in the pro-
Ceedings, unless it appears from the
record on appeal, that by reason of
the error, ruling, instruction or defect
complained of, the party has suffered
substantial injury. There shall be no
presumption that error is prejudtcial.
or that injury was done if error is
shown. And unless it Is the opinion of
the court that by reason of such error,
ruling, instruction or defect the af-
firmance of the judgment would pro-
duce a miscarriage of justice, the judg-
ment must be affirmed
eff this were made the rule of de-
cision and it was faithfully followed,
there would be less fault to find with
the administration of the criminal law.
AVOID DEPARTURES
"Without regard to what tho rule
of decision on appeal may be. trial
courts should nevertheless faithfully
follow the spirit and letter Of the
fundamental and statutory law In the
exercise of original jurisdiction. 1t
should be careful to avoid any depart
ure from the law and should always
be prepared to afford proper relief If
the defendant has been preJudiced
thereby. I will now submit my sug-
gestions relating to the statute law.
"Great delays result from dilatory
pleas or those proceedings that take
place between the filing of the charge
and the trial of the general issue. The
defendant on arraignment may first
move to set aside the indictment I'm
der this proceeding all matters re-
lating to the formation of the grand
jury and the state of mind of the grand
Jurors may be inquired into. I do not
think that either inquiry should be
allowed The formation Of the grand
jury should take place in open court.
Notice thereof should be given to the
public. If any objection is interposed
at the time it should be decided on its
merits. If no objection is interQosed
at the time none should thereafter be
heard. When the grand jury is formed
the court should make a finding that
It has been formed according to law.
This should be conclusive in all sub
sequent proceedings. If 1t is found
that one of the jurors who participated
in the finding of the indictment was in
a state of mind that would hold him
disqualified as trial juror, the indict-
ment must be set aside. This should
not be the law. Before the hearing OF
a matter the grand Jurors should take
an oath that they are not disqualified
to act therein. They are officers OF
the court, and if twelve members JOIN
in finding an indictment the accused
should be tried by a petit jury.
GRAND JURORS QUALIFICATIONS
ITO hold that a grand Juror should
be as qualified to sit as trial juror is
carrying the rule to extremes. Outside
of indictments any individual can bring
a charge against another without the
sanction of an oath or anything otner
than his personal responsibility. the
individual may be punished for false
Imprisonment or made to pay damages,
but under his complaint the law would
be put in motion.
"trhe defendant may next demur to
the information If the pleading is lack
ing in any essential the court should
allow the district attorney to amend 1t
in the same way that pleadings are
amended in civil cases. The rule
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