THE JURY SYSTEM.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 7 June 1901, Page 3

THE JURY SYSTEM.

“Embracery,” or the “squaring” of juries, is (says the Wanganui Herald) rampant in the large centres of population, both in New Zealand and Australia, and according to common report, is a regular branch of business in Wellington, where it is said there are people who will for a consideration, undertake to secure one or more jurors on any case, pledged to render the trial abortive, if they fail to secure the acquittal of the accused. It certainly looks (proceeds the asticle) as if there were some truth in this report, as the number of abortive criminal trials which have taken place in that city during the last ten years is so large and the persons mostly concerned those possessing ample means to pay for such services, and influential friends anxious to shield the wrong-doers, for family and social reasons, from punishment for their crimes as to warrant the public in coming to the inevitable conclusion that these abortive trials are the result of bribery and corruption of the worst kind. There is, in our contemporary’s opinion, one way to preserve trial by jury, and that is to adopt the common' sense method of accepting a majority verdict, as is done in Fiance and some other countries, with the further privilege of returning a verdict of Not Proven in cases where the jury are of opinion that the case is strongly indicative of the guilt of the accused, hut is lacking in some essentials necessary to satisfy the minds of the jury that a verdiet of Guilty ought to be returned.'