IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 1.1 L£|28 115 ■ 2.2 "* !i: I32.0 1^ 11^ i^ %. 9%^ ^J. .v-^ k' ^ ->v v: J^i y.^? /A '■^ 7 Hiotographic Sdences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MSEC (716) •72-4503 •sj v ;V \\ ^ .'•i- ' <» 4^ /^\ 4^ 4^ CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. 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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 32X i ^ ■ 2 3 4 5 6 QUEEiYS BENCH, MOiNTREAL. MR. JUSTICE WURTELE'S Charge to the Grand Jury Sa//(nia\', /s/ Scptonbcr. iSq^. GUNTI.KMKX OF Tlllv GkAND JlKV : You have l^ceii called here to-da)^ to assist in the administration of criminal justice in this district. Your main duty will be to examine the bills of indictment which the law officers of the Crown will lay before you, and to consider and wei^h the evidence which they will produce, to see if there is in each case sufficient presumption of criminality to warrant the arraignment of the accused. Before a man can be placed on his trial for an offence im- puted to him, the evidence on which the charge is founded must be first considered by the judicial officers who are entrusted with the prelimina / examination of the accusation, and then it must be scrutinized by a body of men drawn from the people, who appreciate the evidence with their understand- ing of the ways and conduct of men in the world in which they themselves live. This is what you have to do. Von are not bronght here to try those against whom accnsations will be laid before yon ; yonr fnnetion is merely to see if the evidenee whieh will be snbmitted to yon estal)lishes a presnmption in each case that there is a fonndation for the charge. When snch is the case, it will be yonr dnty to send the accused before the conrt to be tried ; when, on the other hand, the evidence either exonerates the accnsed or fails to raise a presnmption of his criminality, it will be yonr dnty to report this fact. .so that he may be discharged at once. If you are of opinion, after having heard the witnesses and having examined any other evidence produced, that an accnsed person should be put on his trial, your foreman will write the words "A True Bill '^ on the back of the bill of indictment and will sign his name below theni addirig below his signature the word " Foreman, to indicate his capacity ; if, on the other hand, you find that an accusation is unfcmnded, your foreman will in such case record your decision by writing on the back of the bill of indictment the words " No Bill." signing his name and adding his designation as in the other case. Whatever number of jurymen may be present, the concurrence of twelve at least is required to find a true bill. When twelve do not concur, the bill is rejected or ignored. If a majority is of opinion that the charge is unfounded, your return, as I have just stated, should be that there is " No Bill ;" but if a majority does not concur in .such a finding, the bill of indictment is simply ignor- ed, and your return will be made by 3'onr foreman writing on its back the word ' ' Ignoramus, ' ' signing his name and adding his official title as in the other cases. When the result of your deliberations has been endorsed on the bills of indictment, you will bring them into court, and your foreman will hand them to the clerk of the Crown, who in open court 8 and in your presence will announce your findings. The accused arc Hilmi either arrai.^ned and put on their trial, ()r discharged in accordance witii your findings. The names of the witnesses in cacli case arc entered on the bill of indictment, and those whom the officers prosecutino; on behalf of the Crown think should be examined are brouj^ht before you by them, and their examination is conducted by them, although you may yourselves jnit any questions you like to the witnesses, and may e\en examine them yourselves. Vou may call for the witnesses whose names are on a bill of indictment and who may not be brought before you by the law officers of the Crown, and you may examine them ; but if you want to examine any person whose name is not so inscribed, you must get the permission of the pre- siding judge and get such person's name added on the bill of indictment. Your foreman, or any jury- man acting in his stead, will swear the witnesses, and he will put his initials at the end of the name on the bill of indictment of each witness when sworn and examined. The law officers of the Crown and the officers of the court have the right to be present at your sit- tings, but they must withdraw when you deliberate and vote. vSometimes the private counsel of a prosecutor is allowed to be present and to marshall and examine the witnesses, but for this the permis- sion of the presiding judge must be obtained, and such counsel has no right to comment on the evidence given before you or to address nou in sup- port of the charge. The accused are not allowed to be present nor to be represented by counsel, nor to produce any evidence. If you should require any instructions on any legal point, you will apply to tlie presiding judge who will give tlieiii to you in open court. Kroni tlie examination which I have made of tlie calendar of the term, I think, liowever, that there are no cases whicli will re([uire you to ask for any special lej^al advice. The law requires that what takes place at your sittings should not be made public, and it is there- fore your duty to avoid all conversation by which anything which occurred might be divulged. This examination of the bills of indictment is your principal duty, but in addition to this duty you may exercise other functions which in certain circumstances may conduce to a proper administra- tion in the courts and public offices, by calling the attention of the authorities to irregularities or perhaps to cases of maladministration. For this purpose you may therefore visit the provincial jails, reformatories, industrial schools, asylums for the insane and for habitual drunkards, and public offices within this district, and report by present- ment on their condition ; and you may also report any irregularities or wrong- doing on the part of any public or municipal officials which may be brought under your notice. As the institutions I have just mentioned w^ere visited and examined by the grand jury of the term previous to the present one, in the month of June last, and were favorabl}^ reported upon, it will be unnecessary for you to visit them, unless indeed something wrong having oc- curred in the interval should be within the knowledge of some of you or should be brought under your notice. Unless therefore some such exceptional circumstance should require it, I dispense you from the duty of visiting them, and more especially the common jail of the district, as the government has appointed a commissioner to investigate certain coiiiplaints which \\\\v hccii ni;i(lf rclnliti^ t«> it^ internal economy. Our hiws reprove very severely the practice of gambling and contain provisions for the suppression of common gaming and betting houses, and for the punishment of their k.^epers and frecpienters. Wlien we consider the evil which results from gambling and the frequenting of common gambling and bet- ting houses, more especially to the young, the wisdom and necessity of these repressive laws becomes apparent. The recent prosecutions in this court and before the judges of the vSessions of the Peace of a number of the keepers and frequenters of these houses have had the good effect of closing some of them and of sending away many of the gamblers who infested this fair city. I feel sure that you will join me in hoping that those who are charged with the administration of the criminal law will continue to take measures to bring all gamblers and the frequenters of their haunts before the courts until their nefarious and pernicious oc- cupation is stamped otit. Another practice which is very hurtful to the well-being of our people is that of opening taverns and saloons on Sundays, or of ostensibly closing them but at the same time of allowing people to have access to them, and of supplying them with liquor. The Sunday frequenters of these taverns and saloons fatten the publicans to the detriment of their own families, and oftentimes, as the records of this court testify, they disturb the quiet of the day of rest and conduct themselves in a manner which is a disgrace for themselves and a scandal for the city. The evil caused by this infraction of th- law calls for the utmost vigilance on the part of the muni- cipal and revenue police, and for the adoption of stringent measure to suppress it. i) In addrt'ssiiij^ the grand jury, at the opening of the June assizes, last year, I alhided to the fact that the Criminal Code would come into force on the istjuly then following, and to the great facil- ities which it would afford to all those who are connected with the administration of criminal justice. Since that time, the year's experience which we have had has shown the advantages which have been derived from its adoption and use. Already two very excelleuL commentaries on the Criminal Code have been written and published, one by Mr. Justice Taschereau, of the Supreme Court of Canada, and the other by Mr. Crankshaw, of Montreal, which, while they do credit to their authors, are certain to render great service to the legal profession. It was inevitable that a few errors should creep into a work of such magnitude as the Criminal Code, but those which have been found were chiefly clerical, and all were without importance, and they have been corrected by amending acts. ' Two amendments to the Criminal Code were made by an act of the last session (57-58 Victoria, chapter 57), which apply only to our province. By the "Jury Law of the Province of Quebec, " juries are only summoned, outside of the districts of Montreal and Quebec, when the Attorney -General is of opinion that the holding of a term holding criminal pleas is required in the public interest at the appointed time. By the first amendment, where no term is held, any person charged with an indict- able offence, who would have been tried at the appointed time if juries had been summoned, may obtain a change of venue and be tried in another district where a term may be held holding criminal pleas. Persons becoming sureties for persons char- ged wdtli criminal offences, in all the provinces I I except QulIkc, were beloiv tlif Criminal C(>«k'. and continued to he alter its adoption, liable to coercive imprisonment for the enforcement of the ])ayment ot their recognizances, while in tliis province the reco- very of the amount could only he made by execution against the coguizors' i^oods and lands. J^y the second amendment the law has been made uniform for the whole Dominion, and now persons becoming bail in this province are liable to coercive imprison- ment as in the other provinces. It is well to bring this last amendment into public notice, so that those offering themselves as bail may know the full liability they assume. In the month of June last year, 1 also drew atten- tion to the disgraceful condition of the building used in this city as a morgue. Nothing was done, however, towards providing a proper building ; but within the last few days the press, that mighty engine for moving public opinion and effecting reforms, has noticed the state of things and has called for a suitable building, and I therefore now have hopes that before long this cause of reproach will disappear. By an Act passed in the last v^ession of the Parliament of Canada (57-58 Victoria, chai)ter 55), the first Monday in September has been made a non-jtiridical day, or in other words a legal holiday, under the designation of " I^abour Day. " Al- though this court is organized by provincial laws, the law^s 'administered fall under the jurisdiction of the Parliament of the Dominion, and therefore, in obedience to its law creating this new holiday, this cotirt will not sit next Mo-iday and it will be ad- journed from this afternoon to Tuesday morning. I now request yoti to retire and to proceed to the work which is entrusted to you.