Standing Aside Jurors

In order tf mitigate the qffect of the statute 33 Edw. I. which forbade the challenging of jurors by the crown excepting for cause shown, a rulf of practice gradually arose of permitting the prosecution to direct jurors to stand aside until the whole panel was exhausted, without showing cause. The validity of this practice has been repeatedly upheld in England: 26 IIow. St. Tr. 1231. In the United States this statute became a part of the fundamental law after the revolution; Baldw. 78, 82; Jewell v. Com., 22 Pa. 94; and notwithstanding statutes of various states granting to the prosecution a number of peremptory challenges, the custom of standing aside has been preserved. This practice has been opposed where the statutes it has heretofore been allowed to continue. See Tliomp. & Mer. Juries 147. The practice applies in misdemeanors as well as felonies, although there is a peremptory right of challenge; 39 Leg. Int. 384. See Challenge; Jury.