[1] I.e. the jury-box, or enclosed space in which the jurors sit in
court.
[2] Freeman, _Norman Conquest_, v. 451.
[3] This fact would account for the remarkable development of the
system on English ground, as contrasted with its decay and extinction
in France.
[4] Blackstone puts the principle as being that no man shall be
convicted except by the unanimous voice of twenty-four of his equals
or neighbours--twelve on the grand, and twelve on the petty jury.
[5] The distinction between the functions of the grand jury, which
presents or accuses criminals, and the petty jury, which tries them,
has suggested the theory that the system of compurgation is the
origin of the jury system--the first jury representing the
compurgators of the accuser, the second the compurgators of the
accused.
[6] Forsyth, 206. The number of the jury (twelve) is responsible for
some unfounded theories of the origin of the system. This use of
twelve is not confined to England, nor in England or elsewhere to
judicial institutions. "Its general prevalence," says Hallam (_Middle
Ages_, ch. viii.), "shows that in searching for the origin of trial
by jury we cannot rely for a moment upon any analogy which the mere
number affords." In a _Guide to English Juries_ (1682), by a person
of quality (attributed to Lord Somers), the following passage occurs:
"In analogy of late the jury is reduced to the number of twelve, like
as the prophets were twelve to foretell the truth; the apostles
twelve to preach the truth; the discoverers twelve, sent into Canaan
to seek and report the truth; and the stones twelve that the heavenly
Hierusalem is built on." Lord Coke indulged in similar speculations.
[7] See _R._ v. _Dean of St. Asaph_ (1789), 3 T.R. 418.
JUS PRIMAE NOCTIS, or DROIT DU SEIGNEUR, a custom alleged to have
existed in medieval Europe, giving the overlord a right to the virginity
of his vassals' daughters on their wedding night. For the existence of
the custom in a legalized form there is no trustworthy evidence. That
some such abuse of power may have been occasionally exercised by brutal
nobles in the lawless days of the early middle ages is only too likely,
but the _jus_, it seems, is a myth, invented no earlier than the 16th or
17th century. There appears to have been an entirely religious custom
established by the council of Carthage in 398, whereby the Church
required from the faithful continence on the wedding-night, and this may
have been, and there is evidence that it was, known as _Droit du
Seigneur_, or "God's right." Later the clerical admonition was extended
to the first three days of marriage. This religious abstention, added to
the undoubted fact that the feudal lord extorted fines on the marriages
of his vassals and their children, doubtless gave rise to the belief
that the _jus_ was once an established custom.
The whole subject has been exhaustively treated by Louis Veuillot in
_Le Droit du seigneur au moyen âge_ (1854).
JUS RELICTAE, in Scots law, the widow's right in the movable property of
her deceased husband. The deceased must have been domiciled in Scotland,
but the right accrues from movable property, wherever situated. The
widow's provision amounts to one-third where there are children
surviving, and to one-half where there are no surviving children. The
widow's right vests by survivance, and is independent of the husband's
testamentary provisions; it may however be renounced by contract, or be
discharged by satisfaction. It is subject to alienation of the husband's
movable estate during his lifetime or by its conversion into heritage.
See also WILL.
JUSSERAND, JEAN ADRIEN ANTOINE JULES (1855- ), French author and
diplomatist, was born at Lyons on the 18th of February 1855. Entering
the diplomatic service in 1876, he became in 1878 consul in London.
After an interval spent in Tunis he returned to London in 1887 as a
member of the French Embassy. In 1890 he became French minister at
Copenhagen, and in 1902 was transferred to Washington. A close student
of English literature, he produced some very lucid and vivacious
monographs on comparatively little-known subjects: _Le Théâtre en
Angleterre depuis la conquête jusqu' aux prédécesseurs immédiats de
Shakespeare_ (1878); _Le Roman au temps de Shakespeare_ (1887; Eng.
trans. by Miss E. Lee, 1890); _Les Anglais au moyen âge: la vie nomade
et les routes d'Angleterre au XIV^e siècle_ (1884; Eng. trans., _English
Wayfaring Life in the Middle Ages_, by L. T. Smith, 1889); and _L'Épopée
de Langland_ (1893; Eng. trans., _Piers Plowman_, by M. C. R., 1894).
His _Histoire littéraire du peuple anglais_, the first volume of which
was published in 1895, was completed in three volumes in 1909. In
English he wrote _A French Ambassador at the Court of Charles II._
(1892), from the unpublished papers of the count de Cominges.
JUSSIEU, DE, the name of a French family which came into prominent
notice towards the close of the 16th century, and for a century and a
half was distinguished for the botanists it produced. The following are
its more eminent members:--
1. ANTOINE DE JUSSIEU (1686-1758), born at Lyons on the 6th of July
1686, was the son of Christophe de Jussieu (or Dejussieu), an apothecary
of some repute, who published a _Nouveau traité de la thériaque_ (1708).
Antoine studied at the university of Montpellier, and travelled with his
brother Bernard through Spain, Portugal and southern France. He went to
Paris in 1708, J. P. de Tournefort, whom he succeeded at the Jardin des
Plantes, dying in that year. His own original publications are not of
marked importance, but he edited an edition of Tournefort's
_Institutiones rei herbariae_ (3 vols., 1719), and also a posthumous
work of Jacques Barrelier, _Plantae per Galliam, Hispaniam, et Italiam
observatae_, &c. (1714). He practised medicine, chiefly devoting himself
to the very poor. He died at Paris on the 22nd of April 1758.
2. BERNARD DE JUSSIEU (1699-1777), a younger brother of the above, was
born at Lyons on the 17th of August 1699. He took a medical degree at
Montpellier and began practice in 1720, but finding the work uncongenial
he gladly accepted his brother's invitation to Paris in 1722, when he
succeeded Sébastien Vaillant as sub-demonstrator of plants in the Jardin
du Roi. In 1725 he brought out a new edition of Tournefort's _Histoire
des plantes qui naissent aux environs de Paris_, 2 vols., which was
afterwards translated into English by John Martyn, the original work
being incomplete. In the same year he was admitted into the académie des
sciences, and communicated several papers to that body. Long before
Abraham Trembley (1700-1784) published his _Histoire des polypes d'eau
douce_, Jussieu maintained the doctrine that these organisms were
animals, and not the flowers of marine plants, then the current notion;
and to confirm his views he made three journeys to the coast of
Normandy. Singularly modest and retiring, he published very little, but
in 1759 he arranged the plants in the royal garden of the Trianon at
Versailles, according to his own scheme of classification. This
arrangement is printed in his nephew's _Genera_, pp. lxiii.-lxx., and
formed the basis of that work. He cared little for the credit of
enunciating new discoveries, so long as the facts were made public. On
the death of his brother Antoine, he could not be induced to succeed him
in his office, but prevailed upon L. G. Lemonnier to assume the higher
position. He died at Paris on the 6th of November 1777.
3. JOSEPH DE JUSSIEU (1704-1779), brother of Antoine and Bernard, was
born at Lyons on the 3rd of September 1704. Educated like the rest of
the family for the medical profession, he accompanied C. M. de la
Condamine to Peru, in the expedition for measuring an arc of meridian,
and remained in South America for thirty-six years, returning to France
in 1771. Amongst the seeds he sent to his brother Bernard were those of
_Heliotropium peruvianum_, Linn., then first introduced into Europe. He
died at Paris on the 11th of April 1779.
4. ANTOINE LAURENT DE JUSSIEU (1748-1836), nephew of the three
preceding, was born at Lyons on the 12th of April 1748. Called to Paris
by his uncle Bernard, and carefully trained by him for the pursuits of
medicine and botany, he largely profited by the opportunities afforded
him. Gifted with a tenacious memory, and the power of quickly grasping
the salient points of subjects under observation, he steadily worked at
the improvement of that system of plant arrangement which had been
sketched out by his uncle. In 1789 was issued his _Genera plantarum
secundum ordines naturales disposita, juxta methodum in horto regio
Parisiensi exaratam, anno_ MDCCLXXIV. This volume formed the basis of
modern classification; more than this, it is certain that Cuvier derived
much help in his zoological classification from its perusal. Hardly had
the last sheet passed through the press, when the French Revolution
broke out, and the author was installed in charge of the hospitals of
Paris. The muséum d'histoire naturelle was organized on its present
footing mainly by him in 1793, and he selected for its library
everything relating to natural history from the vast materials obtained
from the convents then broken up. He continued as professor of botany
there from 1770 to 1826, when his son Adrien succeeded him. Besides the
_Genera_, he produced nearly sixty memoirs on botanical topics. He died
at Paris on the 17th of September 1836.
5. ADRIEN LAURENT HENRI DE JUSSIEU (1797-1853), son of Antoine Laurent,
was born at Paris on the 23rd of December 1797. He displayed the
qualities of his family in his thesis for the degree of M.D., _De
Euphorbiacearum generibus medicisque earundem viribus tentamen_, Paris,
1824. He was also the author of valuable contributions to botanical
literature on the _Rutaceae_, _Meliaceae_ and _Malpighiaceae_
respectively, of "Taxonomie" in the _Dictionnaire universelle d'histoire
naturelle_, and of an introductory work styled simply _Botanique_, which
reached nine editions, and was translated into the principal languages
of Europe. He also edited his father's _Introductio in historiam
plantarum_, issued at Paris, without imprint or date, it being a
fragment of the intended second edition of the _Genera_, which Antoine
Laurent did not live to complete. He died at Paris on the 29th of June
1853, leaving two daughters, but no son, so that with him closed the
brilliant botanical dynasty.
6. LAURENT PIERRE DE JUSSIEU (1792-1866), miscellaneous writer, nephew
of Antoine Laurent, was born at Villeurbanne on the 7th of February
1792. His _Simon de Nantua, ou le marchand forain_ (1818), reached
fifteen editions, and was translated into seven languages. He also wrote
_Simples notions de physique et d'histoire naturelle_ (1857), and a few
geological papers. He died at Passy on the 23rd of February 1866.
JUSTICE (Lat. _justitia_), a term used both in the abstract, for the
quality of being or doing what is just, i.e. right in law and equity,
and in the concrete for an officer deputed by the sovereign to
administer justice, and do right by way of judgment. It has long been
the official title of the judges of two of the English superior courts
of common law, and it is now extended to all the judges in the supreme
court of judicature--a judge in the High Court of Justice being styled
Mr Justice, and in the court of appeal Lord Justice. The president of
the king's bench division of the High Court is styled Lord Chief Justice
(q.v.). The word is also applied, and perhaps more usually, to certain
subordinate magistrates who administer justice in minor matters, and who
are usually called _justices of the peace_ (q.v.).
JUSTICE OF THE PEACE, an inferior magistrate appointed in England by
special commission under the great seal to keep the peace within the
jurisdiction for which he is appointed. The title is commonly
abbreviated to J.P. and is used after the name. "The whole Christian
world," said Coke, "hath not the like office as justice of the peace if
duly executed." Lord Cowper, on the other hand, described them as "men
sometimes illiterate and frequently bigoted and prejudiced." The truth
is that the justices of the peace perform without any other reward than
the consequence they acquire from their office a large amount of work
indispensable to the administration of the law, and (though usually not
professional lawyers, and therefore apt to be ill-informed in some of
their decisions) for the most part they discharge their duties with
becoming good sense and impartiality. For centuries they have
necessarily been chosen mainly from the landed class of country
gentlemen, usually Conservative in politics; and in recent years the
attempt has been made by the Liberal party to reduce the balance by
appointing others than those belonging to the landed gentry, such as
tradesmen, Nonconformist ministers, and working-men. But it has been
recognized that the appointment of justices according to their political
views is undesirable, and in 1909 a royal commission was appointed to
consider and report whether any and what steps should be taken to
facilitate the selection of the most suitable persons to be justices of
the peace irrespective of creed and political opinion. In great centres
of population, when the judicial business of justices is heavy, it has
been found necessary to appoint paid justices or stipendiary
magistrates[1] to do the work, and an extension of the system to the
country districts has been often advocated.
The commission of the peace assigns to justices the duty of keeping and
causing to be kept all ordinances and statutes for the good of the peace
and for preservation of the same, and for the quiet rule and government
of the people, and further assigns "to you and every two or more of you
(of whom any one of the aforesaid A, B, C, D, &c., we will, shall be
one) to inquire the truth more fully by the oath of good and lawful men
of the county of all and all manner of felonies, poisonings,
enchantments, sorceries, arts, magic, trespasses, forestallings,
regratings, engrossings, and extortions whatever." This part of the
commission is the authority for the jurisdiction of the justices in
_sessions_. Justices named specially in the parenthetical clause are
said to be on the quorum. Justices for counties are appointed by the
Crown on the advice of the lord chancellor, and usually with the
recommendation of the lord lieutenant of the county. Justices for
boroughs having municipal corporations and separate commissions of the
peace are appointed by the crown, the lord chancellor either adopting
the recommendation of the town council or acting independently. Justices
cannot act as such until they have taken the oath of allegiance and the
judicial oath. A justice for a borough while acting as such must reside
in or within seven miles of the borough or occupy a house, warehouse or
other property in the borough, but he need not be a burgess. The mayor
of a borough is _ex officio_ a justice during his year of office and the
succeeding year. He takes precedence over all borough justices, but not
over justices acting in and for the county in which the borough or any
part thereof is situated, unless when acting in relation to the business
of the borough. The chairman of a county council is _ex officio_ a
justice of the peace for the county, and the chairman of an urban or
rural district council for the county in which the district is situated.
Justices cannot act beyond the limits of the jurisdiction for which they
are appointed, and the warrant of a justice cannot be executed out of
his jurisdiction unless it be backed, that is, endorsed by a justice of
the jurisdiction in which it is to be carried into execution. A justice
improperly refusing to act on his office, or acting partially and
corruptly, may be proceeded against by a criminal information, and a
justice refusing to act may be compelled to do so by the High Court of
Justice. An action will lie against a justice for any act done by him in
excess of his jurisdiction, and for any act within his jurisdiction
which has been done wrongfully and with malice, and without reasonable
or probable cause. But no action can be brought against a justice for a
wrongful conviction until it has been quashed. By the Justices'
Qualification Act 1744, every justice for a county was required to have
an estate of freehold, copyhold, or customary tenure in fee, for life or
a given term, of the yearly value of £100. By an act of 1875 the
occupation of a house rated at £100 was made a qualification. No such
qualifications were ever required for a borough justice, and it was not
until 1906 that county justices were put on the same footing in this
respect. The Justices of the Peace Act 1906 did away with all
qualification by estate. It also removed the necessity for residence
within the county, permitting the same residential qualification as for
borough justices, "within seven miles thereof." The same act removed the
disqualification of solicitors to be county justices and assimilated to
the existing power to remove other justices from the commission of the
peace the power to exclude _ex officio_ justices.
The justices for every petty sessional division of a county or for a
borough having a separate commission of the peace must appoint a fit
person to be their salaried clerk. He must be either a barrister of not
less than fourteen years' standing, or a solicitor of the supreme court,
or have served for not less than seven years as a clerk to a police or
stipendiary magistrate or to a metropolitan police court. An alderman or
councillor of a borough must not be appointed as clerk, nor can a clerk
of the peace for the borough or for the county in which the borough is
situated be appointed. A borough clerk is not allowed to prosecute. The
salary of a justice's clerk comes, in London, out of the police fund; in
counties out of the county fund; in county boroughs out of the borough
fund, and in other boroughs out of the county fund.
The vast and multifarious duties of the justices cover some portion of
every important head of the criminal law, and extend to a considerable
number of matters relating to the civil law.
In the United States these officers are sometimes appointed by the
executive, sometimes elected. In some states, justices of the peace have
jurisdiction in civil cases given to them by local regulations.