New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-12-27

the existing law of his chosen subject, with the
accomplishment of actual right according to
commonly accepted standards of right and to
point out but condemn, the petty technicaties
in his particular branch of instruction.
Mr.. Boston paid his respects to the jury sys-
tenn as follows: Further, in my opinion, we
should not be so enamored of the palladiums
of our liberties as to make them general civic
nuisance Into this category, it seems to me,
falls our worship of the jury system. There
may perhaps be remote evils to come from the
abolition of the civil jury, chosen at random
from the community, and the substitution OF
men skilled in the art of sitting evidence and
deducing conclusions but if so l fail to per-
ceive or fear them.
THE CIVIL JURY AN EXPENSIVE
WAY OF GETTING RESULTS.
81 venture to suggest that no more expen-
sive or inefficient means Of arriving at results
exists on the face of the earth. In all other
lines Of human effort we develop experts, but
crude raw material appears to be most soon
sstent with the theory of the civil jury as our
palladium. Let some one have the courage to
study the civil jury from the standpoint of
efficiency and satisfactory results, and let the
economy be studied from the standpoint OF
the public interest and l venture to say that
notwithstanding the benefits derived from the
supposed civic education of the juryman and
the sense of public duty awakened in him, and
notwithstanding the assumed hard common
sense of the community lodged in their twelve
craniums it will be found that these do not
compensate either public or ltigants for the
rude shock of tearing men away from their
usual duties for enforced jury service, the
waste involved in paying twelve unskilled men
poorly to do what smaller number of skilled
ones could do well, and the great amount of
by-product litigation on legal mistakes in jury
trials, which in other trials would be disre-
garded as having no substantial prejudicial
effect.
THE INJUSTICE INHERENT IN CIVIL
JURY TRIALS.
my suggestion is that the injustice inherent
in civil jury trials be pointed out to students,
to the end that they may be inclined to set less
store by them, and to regard them as the e&-
ception, to be resorted to perhaps when there
is substantial fear that actual justice cannot be
otherwise accomplished in given case, but to
be avoided as wasteful and inefficient in all av-
erage cases. Thus can a strong sentiment be
educated at the bar which, while retaining the
civil jury as part of our legal system, will dis
pense with it in the interest of justice and
economy except on rare occasions. The jury
for criminal trials is a different institution and
has other justification"
Mr. Boston called attention to the youth and
inexperience OF our lawmakers as follows;
1T seems to be fact admitted without dis
pute that majority of our lawmakers, so
called-that is to say, legislators-are men,
bers of our profession. Observation tempts
me to say that many if not most of them are
from the younger ranks.
THE salaries which we pay members of our
legislatures certainly do not compensate older
and we'll established lawyers for their services,
while to the young and ambitious man, enter
ing upon his career, step brings him more
quickly into prominence than entry into his
state Legislature But there he has a serious
duty TO perform, for which our present educa-
ton, as / understand it, scarcely fits him.
Statutory construction is one Of the chief bur-
dens of our courts; statutory formulation one
of the most difficult tasks of our legislatures.
Incompetency Of accurate expression may de-
feat the most solemn promises of party plat
forms or the most carefully planned of sage
policies, and may plague numerically the en-
tire bar of state or nation.
I'VE are now seeing the Inauguration here
and there under legislative and even under