In some courts the democratic idea of the
independence of the juryman goes to the extent of not allowing the
judge to say anything specific.
The result is that the jury are confused. They are usually of so
independent a nature that the judge's charge would not greatly
influence them. The clients sit by utterly confounded; they hear the
judge wisely say, "I think perhaps yes, but on the whole it may be
no," and when he is through, not understanding as much as the jury,
they think the judge's charge is very fair. Having said little of
import it probably is.
The continental method is so entirely different, that it is shocking.
In the courts in France the judge practically says for his charge,
"You've heard the evidence, now go on out and do what's right." This
again illustrates the difference between the old and the new ideas of
courts. The old is a battle ground where the issues are defined, the
courts are kept within narrow limits and the rules of the ordeal
observed strictly, and the modern, merely an investigation of a
dispute with the glamor of a contest left out. It is an investigation
of facts, which however bitter may be the personal animosity, should
never lose sight of the main idea of arriving at the plain truth, in a
common sense way.
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