Reading Time: 3 minutes [345 words]

JAMES THOMPSON CALLENDER. 875

courts of the United States will be uniform, or they will be
eome so by the revision and correction of the Supreme Court;
and thereby the same prineiples will pervade all the Union;
but the opinions of petit juries will very probably be differ-
ent in different states.

The decision of courta of justice will not be influenced by
political and local principles, and prejudices. If inferior
courts commit error, it may be rectified; but if juries make
mistakes, there can be no revision or control over their ver-
dicta, and therefore, there ean be no mode to obtain uniform-
ity in their decisions. Besides, petit juries are under no ob-
ligation by the terms of their oath, to decide the constitution-
ality of any law; their determination, therefore, will be extra
judicial. I should also imagine, that no jury would wish to
have 4 right to determine such great, important and difficult
questions; and I hope no jury can be found, who will exer-
tise the power desired over the statutes of Congress, against
the opinion of the Federal courts.

T have consulted with my brother, Judge Griffin, and I now
@eliver the opinion of the court, ‘That the petit jury have
no right to decide on the constitutionality of the statute on
which the traverser is indicted; and that, if the jury should
exercise that power, they would thereby usurp the authority
entrusted by the Constitution of the United States to this
eourt.’? Governed by this opinion, the court will not allow
the counsel for the traverser to argue before the petit jury,
that they have a right to decide on the constitutionality of
the statute, on which the traverser stands indicted. If the
eounsel for the traverser had offered sufficient arguments to
the conrt, to show that the petit jury had this right, the
eourt, on being convinced that the opinion delivered was er-
roneous, would have changed it; for they hold it a much
greater reproach for a judge to continue in his error, than
to retract.

The gentlemen of the profession know, that questions have
sometimes occurred in state courts, whether acts of assembly
had expired, or ‘had been repealed; but no one will say that
euch questions were ever submitted to a jury.

Related Posts