Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-02-14
Jury Service.

that change which contemplates a ma
terial reduction of the number Of ex-
emptions from service are being
watched by the public with increasing
interest.
There has been a great deal Of agita-
ton of this matter Of exemptions from
Jury duty during a great many years
past, and the proposed changes are in
line with the purpose of that agitation.
OF all the exemptions that have
heretofore obtained that of school trus-
tees was probably the most unwise. be-
cause 1t included such large number
Of people who were especially and par
ticularly fitted for this kind of service,
and whose exemption greatly weaken
ed the list from which possible jurors
were to be secured.
There are certain objections that
might be urged against the service OF
ministers of the gospel on juries; but
these objections are probably out
weighed by the reasons that make the
service of a minister desirable.
Theoretically, the sole purpose of a
trial and the sole duty of the attorneys
in a criminal case are to establish the
guilt or innocence of defendant; but
practically it does not work that way.
1t is rarely the case that the state
seeks to convict an innocent man even
though circumstances may be such as
to make conviction a matter of little
difficulty. On the other hand, 1t Is still
more rarely that an attorney for the
defense Is willing to consent to a ver-
dict of guilty no matter how guilty he
may know his client to be.
AS a general thing ministers Of the
gospel are men who will seek to do
only that which is right. They will
find no pleasure even in condemning
the guilty; but their sense Of duty will
compel them to be guided by the law
and the evidence. Attorneys for the
defense, especially where they have
bad cases, will naturally be disposed
to challenge ministers and the state
ministers on a jury as possible.
We do not see any good reason why
physicians should be exempted by law
any more than men of other profess
sions. 1t occurs to us that 1t would
have been better to leave this to the
discretion of the presiding judge. 1t Is
true that the physicians work is very
important, and it Is true that his free
dom to go and come may sometimes
mean life and death to somebody; but
the fact is this Is the exception rath-
er than the rule. Physicians find time
to play, time to recuperate, time to go
on vacations, time to die, time to be
sick and time to do other things just
as other people. They make good jul
rors and there is no good reason why
they should be exempt.
Newspaper men generally have high
ly esteemed the privilege Of being eX-
empt from jury duty, and most of them
will find this duty as irksome as other
people. There are reasons why they
will generally be challenged by one
side or the other in almost every case
both criminal and civil. One Of these
reasons and sufficient one, is that 1t
Is their business to find out all they
can about the merits Of almost every
controversy and in most cases they
have as much original information as
the lawyers. What they learn is gen.
orally given to the public, and how
they stand is a matter Of public record.
Therefore in nine cases out of ten. the
lawyer on one side or the other will
keep them off juries.
But taken all together, we think
that this wholesale wiping out of eX-
emptions is in the line of reform in the
administration Of justice. 1t makes
available for jury service the best in
telligence and experience of the state,
and puts on juries brains and charac-
ter that will often prove equal to the
best of those qualities to be found
either at the bar or on the bench.
1t is true that in bad cases there will
be tendency on the part of those rep
resenting those bad cases to challenge
the best men on the jury, just as there
has been heretofore; but with a larger
percentage of the best men in the jury
boxes and on the venires, discrimina-
ton against them will soon become so
apparent that the practice will work
out it's own correction.
In the interest of better adminis-
tration of the law. we sincerely hope
that the measure looking to the aboli-
tion of wholesale exemptions will not
fail.