[Oct. 1, 
Golden Hales for Jarymen, 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
GOLDEN RULES fop, JURYMEN.* 
Ahstracted from a late Work joh the 
Powers and Dutie's of Juries.” 
1. worst 'if social miseries being 
,1. oppression under the sanction, 
colour, and fornr), of Law, the leliance of 
the country and the sole hope of accused 
persons and suitors are on the good 
sense, integrity, and firmness, of Grand 
or Petit Juries. 
2. An honest Juryman should die ra¬ 
ther than consent to a decision which he 
feels to be unjust; or winch in Ids own 
private judgment is not viarranted by in¬ 
controvertible afiirmative evidence. 
3. The attendance of Jurymen might 
have been dispensed with, if any other 
opinion than their own were allowed to 
?nake the decision; and their office would 
be a mockery on themselves, on the 
parties, and on their country, if their 
decisions did not flow from their own 
unbiassed convictions, and were not un¬ 
shackled and independent. 
4. In framing the verdict, every Jury¬ 
man is bound to exercise his own judg¬ 
ment. to give his private opinion freely 
and boldly, to remember his oath, and 
not to forget that the sole and entire ob¬ 
ject of the institution of Juries is for 
every Juryman to decltie on his own con¬ 
science in regard to the points at issue. 
5. The Jury are bound to decide fully 
Sind finally by a general verdict, unless 
some mere point of law is expressly re¬ 
served and stated by desire of the Judge; 
but such special verdict should be ex¬ 
plicit, final, and conclusive, with respect 
£0 the facts. 
6. Every man is presumed to be inno¬ 
cent, till he has clearly been proved to 
bo guilty; the onus of the proof of guilt 
lies therefore on the accuser, and no man 
is bound, required, or expected, to prove 
bis own innocency. 
7. It being better that a hundred 
guilty persons escape punishment, than 
that one innocent man should he unjustly 
convicted, the accused ought to enjoy 
the beuerit of all doubts, and of all de- 
^ fects and uncertainty in the evidence. 
* This article has appeared in a news¬ 
paper; but in the present copy some correc¬ 
tions have been made, and the paragraphs 
have been newlv arranged. It seems indeed 
to be so desirable, that information of this 
nature should be as w’idely diffused aspossible, 
that no apology can be required for intro¬ 
ducing these rules into the Monthly Ma- 
8. The issue of a criminal trial involves 
every thing dear to the accused, if he be 
found guilty; but his acquittal, if per¬ 
chance he were guilty, is comparatively 
unimportant to the public. 
9. Every Juryman should do to tlie ac¬ 
cused, or decide between plainiitf and 
defendant, as he would those parties 
should do to him were iheir situations 
changed. 
10. As the decision of a Petit Jury 
must be unanimous, every Juryman is 
individually responsible to his own con¬ 
science, and morally responsible to the 
parties for the justice or injustice of the 
verdict. 
11. A Juryman should discharge bis 
mind from preconceived prejudices, be on 
his guard against prejudices of the court, 
and decide on facts only, and on the valid 
evidence sworn by credible witnesses. 
12. He should carefully consider how 
far the evidence sanctions the charge of 
a criminal design, no act being criminal, 
or involving guilt and responsibility, 
w'hich was not committed with a criminal 
mind or intention. 
13. He should commit the material 
points to writing, weigh maturely the 
evidence on both sides, and decide on his 
own intuitive perceptions of right and 
wrong, maintaining a vigilant caution 
against the mistakes, prejudices, or per- 
versiohs, of Lawyers and Judges. 
14. No man is responsible for the 
crime or act of another; so that no pre¬ 
judice should lie against a prisoner, or 
person accused, because a crime has 
been committed, if it is not brought home 
to the accused by distinct and indubi¬ 
table testimony. 
15. Warning to others, and not re¬ 
venge on the culprit, being the design of 
legal punishment; the decisions of Juries 
should he made dispassionately, and not 
be influenced by sinister or artful appeals 
to their feelings. 
IG. The subsequent punishment being 
generally founded on the abstract fact of 
the conviction, and not always influenced 
by the circumstances of the case, the 
laws at the same time being made for 
extreme cases, the Jury ought to i'ecom-< 
mend the convicted to mercy, as often 
as they perceive a justifiable reason. 
IT. In assessing damages between 
party and party, jurymen should respect 
tiiat equitable principle of Magna Churtay 
cap. 14, which, in amercements even to 
the crown, reserves to every man the 
means of future subsistence; to a hus- 
bandipau his implements^ to a woikman 
