ndict or not, and the Trial Jury acquit or condemn. Then
the Jurors are no longer taken from the immediate neighborhood of the
party on trial, only from his district or county. But sworn witnesses
from the neighborhood, depose to the facts. There is no longer a great
concourse of people in the open air, but the trial is carried on in a
small court house, yet with open doors, in the face of the people,
_coram populo_--public opinion still influences the Jury.

As most of the Jurors were unlearned men, not accustomed to intricate
questions, it became necessary for the presiding judge, a man of nicer
culture, to prepare rules of evidence which should prevent the matter
from becoming too complicated for the rustic judgment. Thence came the
curious and strange "rules of evidence" which prevail in all countries
where trial by Jury is established, but are unknown in lands where the
trial is conducted solely by experts, educated men. But as the mass of
the people, as in America, become well informed, the old rules appear
ridiculous, and will perish.

The number of sworn judges varies in different tribes of the Teutonic
family, but as twelve has long been a sacred number with the
Anglo-Saxons, that was gradually fixed for the Jury. Twelve consenting
voices are indispensable for the indictment or the condemnation.

* * * * *

Such is the form of the Jury as we find it at this day. The other
officers have also undergone a change. So, Gentlemen, let me give you
a brief sketch of the Historical Formation of the Function of the
Judge in nations of the same ethnological origin. Here I shall mention
four steps.

1. At the meetings of the people to make, apply, and execute the law,
some one must preside to keep order, put the question, and declare the
vote. He was the Moderator of the meeting. At first it would seem that
some important man, a priest, or a noble, or some other wise,
distinguished, or popular man, performed that function. The business
over, he dropped into his private place again. A new one was chosen at
each meeting.

2. If the former moderator had shown skill and aptness, he was chosen
the next time; again and again; at length it was a matter of course
that he should preside. He studied the matter, and became "expert in
all the manners and customs of his nation." This happens in most of
the New England towns, where the same man is Moderator at the
town-meetings for many years in suc