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Show THE PUNISHMENT OF JURYMEN. In Olden Times Judge Had That Power In his Hands. In olden times, when a Jury In England Eng-land remained impervious to tho Judgo's gentle modo of persuasion, flno and Imprisonment wcro not resorted re-sorted to. Tho Jury that acquitted Sir Nicholas Throckmorton was condemned con-demned to eight months' Imprisonment Imprison-ment In addition to tho payment of a largo sum of money. In 'tho reign of Queen Elizabeth a Jury, having reduced re-duced a prisoner's alleged crlmo of murder to that of manslaughter, was at onco sent to prison and bound over In a largo sum to bo of good behavior. behav-ior. Penalties wero likewise Inflicted upon tho Innocent wife and children of tho offending Jurymen. Even now it Is believed by somo legal authorities authori-ties that a Judgo has tho right to Inflict In-flict n flno upon a Juryman refusing to obey his directions. Such power Is, however, not exercised, except In tho case of a Juror absenting himself Without a Justifiable cause. Of this practlco thero Is the following story: A Judgo has fined a Juryman for non-attendance. non-attendance. On hearing that ho had been unablo to bo present becnuso of his wife's funeral tho Judgo, whoso wlfo was said to bo not of a particularly particu-larly gentlo nature, exclaimed: "Has ho? That was a good cxcubo Indeed. In-deed. I wish wo all had tho samo!" |