United States v. Chaires

• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Florida
• Citation: United States v. Chaires, 40 F. 820 (N.D. Fla. 1889)
• Decision Date: 19 December 1889
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. CHAIRES et al.

40 F. 820

UNITED STATES v. CHAIRES et al.

United States Circuit Court, N.D. Florida.

December 19, 1889

Mr Stripling, Dist. Atty.

Before PARDEE and SWAYNE, JJ.

PARDEE J.

The defendants have filed several pleas in abatement, hereinafter more fully set forth, to which the district attorney for the United States has demurred, assigning as grounds therefor that the same are bad in substance, in that the said pleas do not allege that the defendants are prejudiced in any way, and that the matters alleged in said pleas do not in law constitute any ground of abatement. Counsel for the defendants and for the United States have argued the questions of law thus raised, and the court has considered the same.

The first plea is to the effect that the jury commissioner appointed by the court on July 2, 1889, and who acted in placing the names in the box from which was drawn the jurors composing the grand jury finding the indictment against the defendants, is not now, and was not when appointed, a well-known member of the principal political party in the district opposed to that political party to which the clerk of the court belongs. The said plea contains no averment of injury or prejudice to the defendants, resulting from the fact alleged, and constituting the substance of the plea. At the hearing, we were under the impression that the plea was good in substance, and that injury and prejudice to the defendants might be inferred from the non-compliance with the requirements of the law, considering the same to be mandatory as to the qualification of the jury commissioner; but an examination of the law, and a consideration of the nature of the case, have forced us to the contrary conclusions. The statute provides as follows:

'And that all such jurors, grand and petit, including those summoned during the session of the court, shall be publicly drawn from a box containing, at the time of each drawing the names of not less than three hundred persons possessing the qualifications prescribed in section 800 of the Revised Statutes, which names shall have been placed therein by the clerk of such court, and a commissioner to be appointed by the judge thereof, which commissioner shall be a citizen of good standing, residing in the district in which such court is held, and a well-known member of the principal political party in the district in which the court is held, opposing that to which the clerk may belong; the clerk and said commissioner each to place one name in said box alternately, without reference to party affiliations, until the whole number required shall be placed therein.' 21 St.at Large, 43.

An inspection of this statute shows that the work of preparing the names of the persons possessing the qualifications of jurors, and placing them in the box, is to be done by the clerk of the court and a jury commissioner to be appointed by the judge. The duty to be performed by these parties is clearly and specifically prescribed in the statute. It may be considered, and probably is, mandatory; but it is entirely distinct from the duty devolving, under the statute, upon the judge. The plea under consideration relates entirely to the performance of the duty of the judge. By the statute, the judge is to appoint a commissioner, who shall be a citizen of good standing, who shall reside in the district in which the court is held, and who shall be a well-known member of the principal political party in the district opposing that to which the clerk belongs. The question is whether this part of the statute is mandatory or directory; whether, in appointing a jury commissioner, the judge, while endeavoring to comply with the law, must make no mistake of fact or judgment, but must, at the peril of all subsequent proceedings, be sure to appoint a citizen, not only of standing, but of good standing, and not only a known, but a well-known, member of the principal political party opposed to...