Civil Government for Common Schools Part 8

A. They must be freeholders, twenty-one years old.

Q. Who are exempt from sitting on a jury?

A. Persons over sixty years of age, postmasters and many others.

Q. How many are summoned for a justice court and by whom?

A. Twelve, and by a constable; and from these twelve six are drawn.

Q. Who selects and notifies the jury for laying out roads,

A. By the coroner.

Q. How is the pet.i.t jury list obtained?

A. The supervisors, town clerk, and a.s.sessors of the several towns of the county make out a list of the names of those persons qualified, and the names in the several lists are written upon slips of paper of the same size and deposited in a box in the county clerk's office.

Q. How is the grand jury list obtained?

A. The supervisors apportion the number (three hundred,) among the several towns in the county in proportion to population. Each supervisor selects from his town the number to which it is ent.i.tled; and these several lists are written upon slips of paper as before and deposited in a box in the county clerk's office.

Q. How frequently are the lists changed?

A. The pet.i.t jury list is changed once in three years; the grand jury list every year.

Q. When are these juries drawn?

A. Not more than twenty, nor less than fourteen days before the sitting of the court for which they are drawn.

Q. How many are drawn?

A. Thirty-six pet.i.t and twenty-four grand jurors.

Q. How is the jury for each individual case obtained?

A. The thirty-six pet.i.t jurors' names are put into a box and the names are drawn out until twelve satisfactory persons are obtained.

Q How many of this jury must agree in a verdict?

A. The twelve must agree.

Q. Who is the officer authorized to report the verdict?

A The person they have elected foreman.

Q. In case the twelve jurymen do not agree, what will be done?

A. When the judge is satisfied that the jury will not agree he will discharge them.

Q. What will be done with the case then?

A. Another trial will take place with a different jury, unless the suit be discontinued.

Q. Who is the presiding officer of the grand jury?

A. The foreman, and he is appointed by the judge who presides at that court.

Q. What other officer does this jury have?

A. A clerk, one of their number, who writes out the testimony as it is given.

Q. Who can be present with this jury? A. Only the witness who is being examined, and the district attorney, if desired by the jury; but none except jurors can be present when they ballot in regard to a bill.

Q. What is done with a bill of indictment when found?

A. It is handed over to the court, and the sheriff will cause the arrest of the person unless he be already in custody.

STRUCK JURY.

Q. What courts may order a struck jury?

A. The Supreme Court and superior city courts.

Q. When may the above-named courts order a struck jury?

A. When it shall appear that an impartial trial cannot be had, or that the intricacy of the case requires such a jury.

Q. What time is required in the notice for striking a jury?

A. The party obtaining the order shall give notice eight days before the time for striking, that he will attend before the clerk of the county in which the venue is laid, for the purpose of having such jury struck.

I. The clerk shall select from the jury lists of the several towns the names of forty-eight persons, whom he shall deem most indifferent between the parties, and best qualified to try the cause.

II. The party or his attorney, on whose application the order was granted, shall first strike one from the list, and then the opposing party or agent, alternating until twelve shall have been stricken from the list by each party.

III. The clerk shall certify the names of the twenty-four persons whose names have not been stricken off, who shall be summoned, and from which number a jury shall be impaneled as in other juries.

VII.--STATE.

Q. Upon what is the state government based?

A. Upon a const.i.tution adopted by the people.

Q. How many departments are provided for by the const.i.tution?