Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am ar 27 Gorffennaf 1923.
I began my profession at the Bar before I was a King's Counsel. There are good reasons for slightly modifying the pre-War practice. There is a class of persons to be considered who have not been considered, and that is the jury. The right hon. Member for Spen Valley paid well deserved tributes to the way in which juries perform their duties. I have heard on many occasions, particularly on circuit, jurymen bewailing pitifully their lot at being. summoned from the furthest corners of the county in order to attend a trial, in the proceedings of which their services may be dispensed with. The jurymen have to be considered. It is not fair that they should be brought from their business, at great expense to them- selves, and not sufficiently remunerated, unless it is certain that it is a case as to which the Court or the Judge will decide that it is a case in which their services are necessary in order to give the best trial that is possible.
Anybody who is familiar with the system will know of the hardship to jurymen in being forced to come away from their business when very often their services are not wanted. This Bill will have the effect of requiring an independent mind to be brought to the consideration of the question as to whether jurymen ought to be brought, at great expense to themselves. If they are really wanted they will be brought, but if they are not wanted, they will not be brought. I think it was the hon. and gallant Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Colonel Wedgwood) who suggested that this is the old story of a contest between the executive and democracy. I do not know whether hon. Members read the judgment of learned Judges. If so, they will know that the executive to-day receive no particular leniency from the Judges. I think that is a criticism which the hon. and gallant Member would not have made if he had been more familiar with the course of litigation.
I can suggest another reason for not insisting upon trial by jury where the case is not one that could be more fitly tried by a jury than a Judge, and that is the expense to the parties. I can remember, some years ago, being engaged in a case in which my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Spen Valley had a part. It related to the property in a ditch which, as hon. Members may be aware, depends upon the important question as to the side upon which the hedge is situated. The case was tried once by a jury, who disagreed, although the learned Judge summed up strongly in favour of my client. We found afterwards that the jury were 10 to two in my favour. The case was tried a second time, and the learned Judge again summed up in favour of my client, but the jury again disagreed, and we found out that they were 11 to one in my favour. The case was tried a third time, and the learned Judge again summed up in my favour. I remember that Lord Alverstone expressed himself strongly as to the right decision, but the jury again disagreed, and we were invited for the third time to take the verdict of the majority, strong in the assurance that the jury would, at any rate, have a majority in favour of my client. We agreed to that course, but we then found that they were seven to five against my client. My client lost his case and his fortune, and he was made bankrupt, whereas if that case had been decided by a Judge, and more fittingly decided by a Judge, there is very little doubt as to what had been the result.