The venue for trials, civil and criminal

Abstract

To secure a full, fair, and impartial trial of such issues as, for the adjustment of personal disputes, or for the protection of public rights, it may become necessary to decide, is surely an object to which, in the interests of the public, none can be pronounced as superior. That, for a jury, men should always be had in whom this great public trust may be reposed with confidence, there should be upon the face of the panel a body of men such as, by character and station, would be above imputation. To know whether each locality in which trials may be had would afford a sufficient number of qualified persons, becomes then a necessary element in the consideration of the question as to the qualification of jurors; and to that question, therefore, the complement is, the consideration of the fittest locality in which trials should take place.