182 



DANA, RICHARD H. 



in the absence of statutory provision, vacate the 

 seat of any judge upon the bench. 



INITIAL" PROCEEDINGS IN CRIMINAL CASES. 

 Criminal proceedings may be initiated either by 

 presentment, indictment, information, or sworn 

 complaint. 



Prosecutions in inferior courts are usually 

 commenced by complaint ; but in some States 

 they may also be begun by information. In- 

 dictments may be brought in the police courts 

 of Kentucky, the recorder's courts in New 

 York, the " inferior " courts of North Caro- 

 lina, and the county courts of Oregon and 

 West Virginia. Indictments may sometimes 

 be brought in a superior court and certified to 

 an inferior, as in Georgia, Illinois, and Texas. 

 In Texas the district court may certify an in- 

 dictment for trial to a justice of the peace. 



In the higher courts the common mode of 

 commencing prosecutions is by indictment ; 

 but the State of Wisconsin has abolished the 

 grand-jury system, and substituted proceedings 

 by information or complaint instead of it. In 

 fourteen States proceedings may be commenced 

 either by indictment or information ; in several 

 of these the statutes require an indictment in 

 case of a felony or other crime of high grade. 

 In North Carolina, proceedings may be begun 

 by sworn complaint. 



The initiation of proceedings by presentment 

 is peculiar to Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Vir- 

 ginia. The statutes of Pennsylvania provide 

 that this mode shall not be adopted in the case 

 of offenses of low grade where the remedy by 

 indictment is adequate and no urgent ne- 

 cessity exists. In Virginia, presentments may 



be made even in the county and corporation 

 courts. 



MODE OF TRIAL. The mode of trial in all 

 higher courts is by jury. 



In certain States no provision appears to have 

 been made by statute for the impaneling of a 

 jury in inferior courts. In others, a jury is 

 summoned only on demand of the accused. 

 Some States have a system by which, in cer- 

 tain courts of minor jurisdiction, trial must be 

 by jury; in others it may be, and in others it 

 can not be, but must be by the court. 



SPECIAL PROVISIONS TO INSURE SPEEDY TRIAL. 

 In several States provision has been made for 

 granting to offenders who are willing to plead 

 guilty, or to waive indictment and jury trial, a 

 speedy hearing of the charges against them, 



In Colorado, any misdemeanant may appear 

 before a justice and plead guilty. 



The same is true in New Hampshire, except 

 that the justice can not receive a plea of guilty 

 in cases where the maximum penalty exceeds 

 a fine of one hundred dollars. 



In New Jersey, the court of Special Quarter 

 Sessions (which is in effect a special term of the 

 Court of General Quarter Sessions) may be con- 

 vened for the trial of alleged offenders who de- 

 mand a speedy trial and waive indictment and 

 trial by jury. 



In Wisconsin, the county judge of each coun- 

 ty, in his capacity as an individual magistrate, 

 may receive a plea of guilty, at the request of 

 an offender actually in custody, in any case 

 where the maximum penalty for the offense 

 charged does not exceed five years in the peni- 

 tentiary. 



DANA, RICHARD HENRY, LL. D., an Amer- 

 ican jurist and author, born in Cambridge, 

 Mass., August 1, 1815; died in Rome, Italy, 

 January 7, 1882. He was son of Richard 

 Henry Dana, the poet and essayist (who died 

 in his ninety-second year), and grandson of 

 Chief-Justice Francis Dana. His early educa- 

 tion was received in his native town, and he 

 entered Harvard College in 1832; but, owing 

 to over-devotion to work, and some trouble 

 with his eyes, he was compelled to suspend 

 his studies for a time. His physician having 

 prescribed entire respite from intellectual la- 

 bor, young Dana resolved to try the benefit 

 of a sea-voyage. He accordingly shipped at 

 Boston as a common sailor, on board a vessel 

 which was bound to California by way of 

 Cape Horn. The remedy proved to be admi- 

 rably adapted to his case : he fully performed 

 all the duties of the station he had assumed ; 

 he recovered his health entirely ; and, on his 

 return, wrote a narrative of his experiences 

 and adventures, under the title of " Two Years 

 before the Mast " (1840). This work has been 

 pronounced by universal consent to be the 



best and truest picture of sea-life ever written. 

 Resuming his college work, Dana graduated at 

 Harvard in 1837, studied law under Judge 

 Story, and was admitted to the bar in 1840. 

 His career as a jurist and public man was dis- 

 tinguished by qualities of high excellence. He 

 was an eloquent speaker and clear and cogent 

 reasoner, and he was frequently engaged in 

 cases of great importance; such as the legal 

 right to read the Bible in the public schools 

 in Maine ; the defense of the slave Shadrach, 

 and subsequently (1854) the more exciting de- 

 fense of Anthony Burns, another slave; the 

 prize cases for the Government before the 

 Supreme Court, arguing (successfully) the 

 right of the President of the United States to 

 use war powers for the national defense, etc. 

 In 1853 he was a member of the Massachusetts 

 Constitutional Convention, and in politics was 

 one of the founders of the " Free-Soil " party, 

 and an ardent supporter of Lincoln and Grant 

 as Presidents of the United States. In 1859- 

 '60 he made a tour of the world, revisiting 

 California, and visiting China, Japan, Egypt, 

 and returning by way of Europe. In 1861 he 



