The justices being assembled in sessions elect a chairman. A panel, or list of persons returned to serve on the grand-jury, being called over, twenty-three, if so many appear, are sworn to inquire of the truth of the matters which will be brought before them, and not to disclose what is brought before them. If twenty-three do not appear, the court may proceed with a smaller number; but nothing can be done by the grand-jury without the concurrence of twelve of its members, and it is not usual to take less than thirteen, though twelve may be sworn, if, after waiting a reasonable time, more du nut attend. Those persons in the panel who do not answer to their names are liable to be fined ; and where it is thought desirable to ensure full attendance in future, the whole panel is called over for the purpose of discovering and punishing all the defaulters. The grand jury being sworn, the royal proclamation against vice and immorality is read by the clerk of the peace. The chairman delivers his charge to the grand-jury, in which, as he is in possession of the depositions taken when the prisoners were committed, he calls their attention to such cases as appear to present any difficulty, and explains such points of law as are necessary for their guidance. The grand-jury then retire to their room to receive such bills of indictment as may be brought before them.
When the business of the sessions is such as to be likely to occupy a considerable time, it is usual to appoint a second chairman to preside in a separate court, under the authority of the 21 & 22 Viet. c. 73, substituted for previous provisions fcr the same purpose. The bills of indictment on parchment, with the names of the witnesses indorsed thereon, are taken to the grand.jury, who call in, swear, and examine the witnesses in succession, no other person being present. The ex amination being concluded, if a majority consisting of not less than twelve are of opinion that the charge is supported by the evidence, the bill of indictment is indorsed "a true bill, ' or the indorsement may state that the bill is true in such and such parts, and not true in others, or the grand.jury may themselves strike out or alter any part of the bill, and return it in its corrected form as a true bill generally. if a majority of the grand-jury think that the party is not guilty, or if the number that think him guilty'be less than twelve, they indorse " not a true bill ;" though in the latter ease the old form of indorsement, " ignoramus" (we do not know), seems to be more correct. It not unfrequently happens that grand-jurors return true bill" where the evidence which has been brought before them is such as merely to raise in their minds a strong suspicion of the guilt of the party accused, acting under an impression that it is not their duty to try the guilt of the party, and that the inquiry which has taken place in the grand-jury room is in the nature of a precognition little differing from the pre liminary examination which takes place before a magistrate, who is bound to commit or to require bail if a probable cause of guilt be made out. By the common law of England, a man is not liable to punish
ment until the fact charged against him has been found to be true by the oath of twelve men (whether grand-jurors, ket-jurors, or jurors impanelled to try en issue in a civil cause involving a charge of crime), nor until such finding has been afterwards confirmed by the verdict of twelve others, forming the petty-jury, or by the confession of the party by pleading guilty in open court. The judgment of the court ought in strictness perhaps to be considered as founded upon the presentment of the grand-jury, and the proceedings which take place before the petty-jury may be said to be less a trial of the guilt or innocence of the prisoner than a trial of the truth or falsehood of the indictment. The grand-jury are sworn to inquire, not whether the accused ought to be put upon his trial, but whether the matter in respect of which they are to make their presentment, contained in the bill of indictment, which directly and unequivocally asserts that a crime has been committed by the party, is or is not true. To return a bill as true upon less evidence than that which, if uncontradicted, would be satisfactory proof of guilt, seems to be at variance with an oath to present the whole truth and nothing but the truth. There appears to be no substantial distinction between a finding by the grand-jury that the party has committed the offence charged, and a verdict of "guilty" pronounced by a petty-jury.
The finding of a true bill where the evidence is not sufficient to con vict, is a wrong to the party accused. On the other hand, the justice of the country is net unfrequently defeated by forcing on a criminal charge to its final decision at a time when evidence sufficient to show the real character of the transaction has not been obtained ; and by the inconsiderate haste of grand-juries in finding bills, the most atro clone crimes have not unfrequently obtained a total exemption from punishment. (8 Howell,' State Trials,' 821, 836, 838; Burn's 'Justice,' " Indictment V.") The bill, being indorsed, is brought into court by the grand-jury, and delivered to the clerk of the peace, who reads the indorsement with the name of the prisoner and the nature of the charge. By finding the bill to be true, either generally or in part, the grand-jury are become indictors, and the party charged the indictee ; but these terms are nearly obsolete. The indictee is brought to the bar by the jailer, if in custody ; or if out on bail, he comes of his own accord in discharge of his bail. He is then arraigned, and the trial proceeds in the same manner as at tho assizes. [TRIAL.) If the prisoner be found not guilty, he is immediately set at liberty, unless there be some other matter before the court upon which he ought to be detained. If a verdict of guilty be returned, the sentence is pronounced by the chair man; such sentence, where the amount of punishment attached to the offence is not fixed, being first determined by the opinion of the majority of the justices present.