The Abolition of the Jury System. 



THE ABOLITION OF THE JUEY SYSTEM. 



BY CHARLES CAVEKNO. 

 Lombard, Du Page County, 111. 



It may seem a bold project to advocate the abolition of the jary 

 system. We have been taught to regard the writ of habeas cor- 

 pus and the trial by jury, as little less than gifts of Divine inspira- 

 tion. The writ of habeas corpus may still stand. The Time Spirit 

 has not passed adversely upon that, and is not likely to. 



But candid examination will hardly be able to resist the con- 

 clusion that, in this country, trial by jury has outlived its use- 

 fulness. 



The history of trial by jury will here be treated of only incidental- 

 ly. Sources of information respecting the history of the j ury system 

 are in the hands of the legal profession, and" lie open to all. Few 

 other institutions have undergone so many changes as this. To 

 speak of trial by jury is to speak of something whose content of 

 meaning depends upon time. The institution has taken on a new 

 phase and parted with an old one, in almost every century since 

 the Norman conquest. 



Jurors were originally summoned to aid a court in a matter of 

 dispute, by a declaration of facts within their own knowledge. 

 Now it is legally a disqualification for a man to know anything 

 about the case in hand — practically, a disqualification for him to 

 know anything else. AVhen the court could put men of the vi- 

 cinage on oath, to help it with a statement of the facts they knew, 

 there was life and health in the jury system. Later, when this 

 group of witnesses took on the further function (that out of which 

 the grand jury grew), of suggesting to the court matters in their 

 vicinage, connected with the public weal or the public peace, which 

 they thought the court should look after, there was life and health 

 in the system. 



But when now the court has to inform the jury of the facts, and 



