Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-06-10
Memminger referred was the right of
pre-emptory challenge.
Riqht of CHALLENGE.

be of very ancient origin, and, from
that very fact of long and universal
use in the administration of law un-
der the jury system, and while it has
been held by our courts to be a right of
rejection and not Of selection, and has
even been curtailed from the maximum
of 35 under the common law, to 20 in
our statute; yet practically, as we see
it now in operation, it does seem sure
that the number should be still further
cut down. 1t no doubt Is true that a
few re-emptory challenges should be
allowed in serious cases where, fire.
quently while no definite causes for
challenge can be assigned, there is yet
some instructive feeling on the part of
the accused or the prosecution that the
juror is not Indifferent; yet beyond
that, the challenge for causes would
seem to be sufficient safeguard for Sc
curing an impartial jury; the cause to
be determined upon questioning the
juror and proof, for the decision Of the
trial judge. as it is now subject to re-
view upon appeal"
Judge Memminger maintained that
the system Of trial by jury was its
direct educating influence. This in
fluence was not so widely felt when
criminal cases alone were tried by
jury. but with the application of the
jury to civil cases 1t has been kept con-
stantly before the peoples eyes. The
civil jury serves ito Undue the minds
of the citizens with part Of the char
acter and qualities of a Judge" The
laws also are taught to him in prac-
tical manner.
Judge Memminger told the members
Of the senior law class, soon to receive
their degrees, that it was with this
system of trial by jury with which they
were to come into contact. They would
observe, he said, many apparent inn
perfections, but "in common fairness
| it must be borne in mind that the very
large percentage of correct verdicts
escape public notice; whereas, 1t Is
the small percentage of wrong verdicts,
usually in notorious cases, which at
tract attention and call forth adverse
criticism. In other words, the misses.
not the hits, are counted. 1t is with
the system Of trial by jury, however, as
it Is that l have had to deal, seeking
the best obtainable results, but con-
scious of many failures; yet always
striving cheerfully on"
1T has, too. fallen to my lot" said
Judge Memminger, "in my work as a
judge, to have tried before me some
of the most difficult and notorious
cases Of recent years. and it is Of
the knowledge gained in these expe-
riences that I want to speak before
closing my address.
Style Of oratory.
| You will hear of the wonderful
speeches of the lawyers of former gen.
erations in South Carolina, and you
hear Of decadence at the bar and that
oratory has gone out Of fashion. and
that the argument Of the lawyer is
useless, and that the jury does not
wish to hear the lawyers, and all that
sort Of thing! In my judgment, this
is only true to the extent that the
| style of oratory has changed, and that
the old style Of speech of flowery lam
guage, classical allusion and erudition,
falls fiat before jury and audience Of
| the present day; but real enthusiasm
| in an argument which deals with facts
| - tlA o,,l actc ~
| ingenious view of the case, or suggests
some deduction not apparent to the or
| dinary listener. always tells: and
| real good speech" as we call it now,
along these lines, often lights the path
to a correct finding by the jury.
II have read many of the great
speeches of the masters Of oratory at
the bar in the past. Three years ago /
| heard as brilliant a speech as any Of
| them, in view of the changed condi-
tions, which have adverted to. from
lawyer in a small county in our state
He is still young man in active prac-
tice. Many Of you, no doubt, know him
| well.
1t was in a dingy, sawdust-strewn
loft used as a court house in one Of
our new counties, that the case was
tried.
AT a country dance, lovely young
girl came to her brother and told him
| that a young man there had been very
| rude to her; he sought the offender,
demanded an apology; and in the
/
shot. He was laid on bed and while
his life was swiftly ebbing away, from
| the cruel wound, the sweetheart kneel-
ing by helping to stay the tide the
slayer who at first thought that in the
confusion, no one was certain who did
the shooting, and then, therefore, de-
termining to feign ignorance, came in
to the room and asked who shot the
dying man; the tortured girl, rising
and pointing her finger at him, over the
quvering, bleeding body, said. You
killed him."
! Case of Reversal.
| afterwards he was forced to ad-
nit the killing, and set up self-defense
1t was a case Of reversal Of the usual
case Of the so-called unwritten law. An
array of able counsel represented him.
all of whom acquitted themselves with
great credit, and made the speeches.
| The lawyer to whom l am especially
| referring now, however, was retained
for the prosecution. He commenced to
| address the jury about dark; the wealth.
er was hot, and the place crowded to
suffocation, and yet everyone, man and
woman there present, sat or stood mud
died. spell bound for nearly three
hours while this mastery speaker trod
the crumpled sawdust strewn floor be-
fore the jury, overwhelming them with
such q flow of argument and pathos as
do not believe was ever surpassed
anywhere at any time.
The prisoner sat shrinking and
crushed under it. That scene at the
death bed was woven in and out, tier