Race Distinctions in American LawStephenson, Gilbert Thomas
History
Race Distinctions in American Law
Stephenson, Gilbert Thomas
African Americans -- Politics and government; Law -- United States -- History; United States -- Race relations
The fourth section of the Civil Rights Bill[623] of 1875 reads: “That no
citizen possessing all other qualifications which are or may be
prescribed by law shall be disqualified for service as grand or petit
juror in any court of the United States, or of any State, on account of
race, color, or previous condition of servitude, and any officer or
other person charged with any duty in the selection or summoning of
jurors who shall exclude or fail to summon any citizen for the cause
aforesaid shall, upon conviction thereof, be deemed guilty of a
misdemeanor, and be fined not more than five thousand dollars.” As was
seen in the previous chapter on the civil rights of Negroes, the first
sections of the Civil Rights Bill were declared unconstitutional in
1883. But, as will be seen in the discussion of the cases that have
arisen about the Negro as a juror, the section quoted above has stood
the test of constitutionality and is still a part of our Federal statute
law.
When the States outside the South saw, in 1883, that the Federal
Government was impotent to secure civil rights to Negroes, they began to
enact Civil Rights Bills of their own, which virtually copied the
Federal statutes of 1875. The following States enacted statutes
practically the same as the Federal law referring to jury service:
Indiana,[624] in 1885; Michigan,[625] in 1885; New York,[626] in 1895;
Ohio,[627] in 1884, and Rhode Island,[628] in 1885. The only difference
between these State statutes and the Federal statute is in the
punishment for keeping a person off the jury because of his race or
color. Indiana and Michigan impose a fine of not less than one hundred
dollars or imprisonment of not more than thirty days, or both; New York
imposes a fine of from one hundred dollars to five hundred dollars or
imprisonment from thirty to ninety days, or both; Ohio imposes a fine
from fifty dollars to five hundred dollars or imprisonment between
thirty and ninety days, or both; Rhode Island imposes a fine not to
exceed one hundred dollars. This is practically all of the jury
legislation outside the South, which has been found.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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