65 
likes to be told that he has made a mistake, and, as a consequence, 
there would be greater care taken in the private preparation of an 
accusation, in case those responsible were found on the appeal to 
have been guilty of apathy or of too much zeal. 
CoMMON JURIES. 
Experience has shown that the verdicts of juries are just in the 
very great majority of instances, but where strong prejudice exists, 
juries are frequently unjust, and are as capable of erring on the 
side of undue convictions as they are of undue acquittals. Juries 
are by no means infallible, and this applies more especially to an 
average common jury consisting of small shopkeepers and petty 
farmers, who will rarely have the memory, mental power, or habits 
of thought essential for the purpose. 
Of good special juries this is far from being true, and in criminal 
cases of gravity or difficulty there should be power given to sum- 
mon a special jury. Probably many defects that exist in our jury 
system would be removed by having more highly qualified jurors ; 
and if arrangements were made for their comfort and payment of 
expenses when on duty, men of standing and consideraticn might 
be found willing to fill the position. 
Counsel is often heard in Court appealing to the jury to dismiss 
from their minds all they have heard of the case before them prior 
to their coming into Court, and they are reminded of their oath to 
well and truly try the prisoner. I imagine, however, that it is 
impossible for a juryman to get rid of the impressions first made 
upon his mind by what he has heard shouted in the streets by 
newspaper boys, or read in a district newspaper, of a shocking 
murder, assault, or the like. In the present day, all details con- 
nected with crime, or supposed crime, are published with the 
utmost rapidity, and these details, which are always more or less 
incorrect, are circulated in newspapers in the district from whence 
the jury are drawn—so that-in spite of himself, a man’s mind may 
be tolerably well made up long before he goes inte the jury box. 
We have had, during the last two generations, considerable experi- 
ence of trials of all kinds without juries, and, in the opinion of 
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