4208. JURY (Trial by), Medietas Lingu æ.—
I sincerely rejoice at the acceptance of
our new Constitution by nine States. It is
a good canvas, on which some strokes only
want retouching. What these are, I think
are sufficiently manifested by the general voice
from north to south which calls for a bill of
rights. It seems pretty generally understood
that this should go to juries * * * In
disputes between a foreigner and a native, a
trial by jury may be improper. But if this
exception cannot be agreed to, the remedy
will be to model the jury by giving the
medietas linguæ, in civil as well as criminal
cases.—
To James Madison. Washington ed. ii, 445.
Ford ed., v, 45.
(P.
July. 1788)
