Page:Democracy in America (Reeve, v. 2).djvu/447

Rh little onerous as possible. The sessions are held in the chief town of every county, and the jury are indemnified for their attendance either by the State or the parties concerned. They receive in general a dollar per day, besides their travelling expenses. In America, the being placed upon the jury is looked upon as a burden, but it is a burden which is very supportable. See Brevard's Digest of the Public Statute Law of South Carolina, vol. i. pp. 446 and 454, vol. ii. pp. 218 and 338; The general Laws of Massachusetts, revised and published by Authority of the Legislature, vol. ii. pp. 187 and 331; The revised Statutes of the State of New York, vol. ii. pp. 411, 643, 717, 720; The Statute Law of the State of Tennessee, vol. i. p. 209; Acts of the State of Ohio, pp. 95 and 210; and Digeste général des Actes de la Légis la ture de la Louisiane.

If we attentively examine the constitution of the jury as introduced into civil proceedings in England, we shall readily perceive that the jurors are under the immediate control of the judge. It is true that the verdict of the jury, in civil as well as in criminal cases, comprises the question of fact and the question of right in the same reply: thus, A house is claimed by Peter as having been purchased by him: this is the fact to be decided. The defendant puts in a plea of incompetency on the part of the vendor: this is the legal question to be resolved.

But the jury do not enjoy the same character of infallibility in civil cases, according to the practice of the English courts, as they do in criminal cases. The judge may refuse to receive the verdict; and even after the first trial has taken place, a second or new trial may be awarded by the Court. See Blackstone's Commentaries, book iii. ch. 24.

I find in my travelling-journal a passage which may serve to convey a more complete notion of the trials to which the women of America, who consent to follow their husbands into the wilds, are often subjected. This description has nothing to recommend it to the reader but its strict accuracy.