Like many honors, the position of foreman of a jury is an empty honor.
He has the first seat and he heads the procession when the jury walk
in and out of court; he also announces the verdict, but he has no
actual power either in the jury-room or in the court. If there is a
vote to be taken, he has no deciding voice, but in the deliberations
he quickly falls to the level which his attainments justify.
During the trial a feeling of resentment at court procedure grows. It
is not the judge any longer who is keeping and delaying them. The
witnesses appear like fools it is true, but the lawyers make them act
more foolishly than need be. Why does the judge make such absurd
rulings? The law must be an unreasonable thing and the judge evidently
knows a great deal about it. Why can't the witnesses tell what they
know? The most tiresome parts are when the lawyers begin arguing
about the testimony. One side wants the witness to tell something and
the other side does not. The judge keeps still and lets the lawyers go
on talking as though it were something important, perhaps he can not
help it. The lawyers or the judge can not have much to do. The judge
it is true is paid to listen, but the lawyers must be pretty hard up
when they will go on talking in that way.
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