Evening star., 1912-11-03
TAKES Fifteen WINDOWS
TO MAKE A BRITISH JUROR
f,l Corresiondence of The star.

Special Correspondence of The star.
LONDON, October 26 1912.
NTO man may serve on jury in this
! Y country il lie lives in a house vita
less than fifteen windows. Nor Is any
one eligible for jury duty in England
VINO pays .ess than 500 or $50 rent a.
year. according TO the county in whicn
lie lesides. To serve on a special jury.
moreover. one must be an esquire or
person of higher degree than the COM
mon, or garden juror-namely, a banker,
merchant or householder occupying
private dwelling place assessed at not
less than $500 in a town of not fewes
than 2UmD inhabitants or $3.50 elsewhere
And whereas the special Juror is paid
81 per case. the ordinary juror gets only
a shilling, or about quarter OF dollar
The window qualification, by the way. is
a relic of the old days when windows
were taxed and the number a man cou d
afford was an indication Of his means.
This strange anomaly in a country
where justice is on the whoie, SO we
administered, of measuring mans in
tel igence by his rent roll or by his tax
receipts is brought to mind by reading
Of the extraordinary care taken in choos-
ing the jurors for the Becker trial in New
York
The British system of selecting jurors
has been condemned BY many judges ana
lawyers as being farcical, and it is not
surprising that many truly amazing as
Well amusing results OF tr1dl Dy jury
are on record in this country. OF these,
perhaps the most astonishing is related
in tn. "reminiscences of the late Sergt.
Ballantine. who tells of a case when A
man confessedly guilty of murder was
set free by "A jury. The prisoner, who
had q bad record. was committed TO take
his trial ar the London sessions. The
grand jury threw out the bill against the
man, greatly to the surprise of the Judge,
Sir William Hardman. who returned the
ys-lt h.
ton that probably some mistake had
been made The foreman initiated the
bill and sent il bach.
Sir William imagined that the grand
iurymen had reconsidered their previous
decision When called upon to plead, the
prisoner declared frankly that he was
guilty, and was. therefore. remanded to
come up for sentence later in the day.
4 minute or two afterward the foreman
intimated that his initials on the bill We're
meant to emphasize the original finding
of the grand jury. The prisoner was
brought back into court. The grand
jury said Sir William. believe you are
innocent. You have told us that you are
guilty. have no alternative but To dis
charge YOU from custody.
Perhaps the best story in connection
with British juries is told by Lord Ell
don. Noticing once. during the progress
of trial, that one of the jurymen was
absent, he said: There are only clever
jurymen; where is the twelfth Please.
my lord, said one OF the e!eFen. ne mas
gone away about some business, but he
has left his vote with me-.
The intricate laws of copyright i'm this
country bother juries a lot, but neve-
were twelve good men and true more
puzzled than the jurors i'm an importan.
civil action that was tried before the
late Justice jeff. The Judge had devoted
many hours to lucid and painstaking
up of the case. and the jurors
had spent half of another day In con-
SultatiOn. when at last they returned into
court, to the manifest relief of every
body present. 1t only, however, tn
expain that they could not arrive at q
decision. What is your difflculty?''
asked the Judge, impatiently. IF YOU
please, your lordship,' answered the
foreman. tugging at his forelock, what
we wants to know is what all this ere
case is about?"