The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1933-03-23

has the power to originate charge
against one of your neighbors without
the help of anyone. A magistrate may
not issue a warrant unless someone
appears before him and makes a
charge, but it is for you as a grand
jury to make the charge and the basis
of any such charge is the evidence
of the witnesses produced before you.
You are, however, governed by the
law just as every other individual in
the county. You have no right to
make a baseless charge against any
citizen. 1t is only when witnesses are
produced before you and furnish such
testimony as satisfies you that I'M
less that evidence is explained or con-
tradicted the traverser is guilty, that
you should return a presentment or
an indictment. In other words, that
if no other evidence were produced in
the case and you were sitting as petit
jurors you, upon that testimony,
would find verdict of guilty. 1t is
only in that contingency that you have
right to make charge against one
of your fellow citizens. Again, you
have no right to make such a charge
against him unless the evidence pro-
duced before you is legal evidence.
You could not, of course, place a
charge against one accused on hear
say alone. You have no right to hear,
in your grand jury room, hearsay evil
dence. 1t is only upon legal evidence
that you have right to base any con-
clusion or to find and return an in
dictment. l ask you therefore to con-
slider and observe fully the oath you
have taken. Be careful not to COM
municate to anyone anything that
takes place in the jury room for the
reason that, if you do, it may cause
the escape of the accused or may in
terfere with the state in securing the
attendance of witnesses and in that
may bring about failure of justice.
Under the oath which you have
taken you are not to find an indict-
ment against anyone because of pre-
JUDGE, passion, malice or ill will, nor
leave any unpresented because of
friendship, kindness, good will, love
OF affection.
It is the duty of the court to call
your attention to some special stat
utes. One is the statute which makes
it unlawful for citizen to carry upon
his person concealed weapons because
of the danger of tragedies that may
result from a disregard of this law.
1t is a crime to commit abortion in
this state. You know it is crime to
commit homicide in Maryland as well
as in every other state and yet it is
we'll known that among those people
who are indifferent to spiritual things
and who are basing everything on
matter alone and on material things
there are many who are advocating
certain forms of abortion and certain
forms of homicide, in addition to other
things that you and 1 and our ances>
tors have agreed upon as the most
heinous of crimes. And yet it all
comes back to this: that you can not
have observance of criminal law and
of criminal justice except they be
based upon the theory and upon the
conviction that there is God in the
universe and that there is soul in
the human body.
We are also required to charge the
Grand Jury as to the law against the
sale of narcotics and other habit form
ing drugs.
There is a statute making it unlaw-
full for the clerk, sheriff, register Of
wills and other state officers to retain
and fail to pay over state funds within
the time required by law and therefore
it will be your duty to see whether
that statute has been complied with.
/ We have also the mining law of the
state which makes it the duty of the
mine inspector to see that certain
provisions of the law are enforced