Page:American History Told by Contemporaries, v2.djvu/216

  CHAPTER X — COLONIAL COURTS 69. How Juries were Summoned (1710) BY "A SWISS GENTLEMAN"

HO' it is Commendation sufficient for our Laws, to say they are as nigh to those of England, as conveniently may be, yet we have in several things refin'd upon the English Laws. For instance : The Jurors are not here returned by the Sheriffs, but the Names of all the best qualified Persons in the Country are agreed upon and settled by Act of Assembly, and put together into a Ballot-Box. At the End of every Court this is set upon the Table, before the Judge and Bench, and after it is shaken, a little Child draws out 48 Names, which are read, and a List of them taken by the Sheriff, that he may know whom to summons. These 48 are put in the second Division of the Ballot-Box, out of which, at the opening of the next Court, another Child draws 12, who are to serve as Jurors; and if any just Exception be made, he draws others, untill the Jury be full. The same Method, with little Alteration, is taken in returning Juries for the Sessions of the Peace. The Names of those who have serv'd are put in the third Division of the Box, where they lie till those in the first Division are almost all drawn, and then they are again put into this. The Reason of their lying in the third Division is, because one Set of Persons should not be too much burthen'd, but that all should have an equal Share of the Trouble, as nigh as may be.

The Ballot-Box hath three Locks and Keys, kept by three several Persons appointed by the General Assembly, whereof the Judge of the Court is one ; neither can the Box be opened without the Presence of those three. The Reason of all this Precaution in returning Jurors is, for the better and more effectual Preservation of the Lives and Estates of the Inhabitants. For the Sheriffs, Marshals, and all other such Officers, being