Jury to be Composed of Members of Kuomintang 'a number of alleged communists in new procedure for the trial of Which the. jury system should be! adopted, was pointed out by the Procurator of the Higher Court of the Shanghai Special District Court yesterday, It should be enforced following the promulgation of a Taw by the National Government which approved of trial by jury in eounter-Tevolutionary cases." This new Jove was promulgated in August 1829 and revised on December 31,1929.
'The Procurator, Judge' Wong, ad-Journed several eases in which Alleged communists were charged, including one in which three persons concerned with: the Peking Theatre affair in which a man was shot, Appeared on remand, and said thal ihe would inquire asto whether the jury system should be used at the next hearing.
According to the mew law the procedure Will be on very much the Same lines as that of an Anglo-Saxon jury trial, but the jurors will persons selected from the Kuomintang in the district in which the eases occurred, The jury is to be composed of six persons.
Extracts from the revised provisional aet governing the jury trial in. counter-revolutionary. eases are quoted 2.—Military men who are enlisted in the army, navy, and alr forces.
.—The staff attacked to the court rate persons.
Following in the main the Anglo-Saxon jury system, the law holds that "a juror " in the following conditions. should with draw, where the juror is a complainant, a prosecutor, a party in the attached civil case, is or has been a relative of the defendant or complainant, the defendants or complainant's legal representative, or a Witness or expert in any particular] case, another Article it tates: "Where a juror fails to exercise his! duties without justifiable reasons he shall be fined not more than $100 or in the alternative be detained for not more than three day'
Article 18 says: "After the concasion of the arguments provided! {for in.a previous Article, the presi ing judge shall show to the jury the Tegal points concerning the constitu. tion of the offence, and the relevant] facts and evidence, and ask them whether they think the facts contitute the offence. Ie shall then order them to retire for a consultation and to report the result of their deliberations in open court.
Article L—Duringe the period of the enforcement of the Provisional Counter-Revolutionary Act, the court, in trying counter-revolutionary eases, shall, according to the provisions of this aet, adopt the jury system.
Article '2.—When the highest Parly headquarters in the various districts feel dissatisfied with the judgment of the Court of First In-Mance rendered against counterrevolutionary eases, they may, within the presevibed period of appeal, request' the Procurator to. file an! appeal application in the Supreme Court. When the Procurator receives the above request, he shall imately file the appeal. counter-tevolutionay where the reasons of appeal are based on the question of facts, when the case is returned for trial, it may upon the request of the headquarters of a Party, be submitted to the consideration of a Jury.
Article 4.—The aforesaid shall be attended to by a jury composed of six, jurors, Regarding the reliability or otherjwiae of the evidence the judge cannot express an opinion. When a juror cannot understand the points suggested by the Judge, he may request the judge to explain to him.
Article 21—The verdict should eas follows:—1 Guillys 2 Not guilty; and 3 The suspicion cannot proved. The verdict of guilty! or nor guilty shall be decided by a unanimous opinion of the jurors. When the verdict is divided the jury shall vender a verdict that the suspicion cannot be proved.
Article 22—The verdict shall noted down in the inguiry sheet, signed by the chairman (foreman) and be handed over to the Judge. AL the time of accepting the verdict] the judge shall ask the respective jurors whether the verdict accord with the result of their deliberations. If there are any oh: Mill exist, the judge shall order the Jury. tin reconsider the matter and rouen another verdict, If objections still exist, the judge shall, order the tors to answer to the court in the Aiticle 5.—The jurors shall be lander in which they were drawn out. elected from anion' the Kuomintang. members residing: at the place where the High Court or its branch court ig situated, and whose age shall be more than'25 years. The following persons cannot be elected as Juroi 1.—OMicials who are Article—When the verdict is clearly in. contrad fon with the evidence produced at the heat the presiding judge may decide to transfer the ease to another jury, to have the proceedings renewed, ihe oer
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.