Community civics and rural life . carelessness ofsome one, or an injury to property or to health through main-taining a nuisance of some kind. In such cases the court,after ascertaining the facts, merely sees that justice is done, asby the payment of damages to the injured party by the one doingthe injury. A criminal case is one in which a person is chargedwith having violated a law of the community. The injury isone against the community as a whole, and not merely againstan individual. It is the community that appears in court against 438 COMMUNITY CIVICS the accused person, and not merely on
Community civics and rural life . carelessness ofsome one, or an injury to property or to health through main-taining a nuisance of some kind. In such cases the court,after ascertaining the facts, merely sees that justice is done, asby the payment of damages to the injured party by the one doingthe injury. A criminal case is one in which a person is chargedwith having violated a law of the community. The injury isone against the community as a whole, and not merely againstan individual. It is the community that appears in court against 438 COMMUNITY CIVICS the accused person, and not merely one of his neighbors. Insuch cases the court first ascertains the guilt or innocence ofthe accused person; and if he is guilty, imposes a punishmentupon him, such as a fine, or imprisonment, or even death, ac-cording to the nature of the crime. The judicial branch of government, then, is that part of thegovernmental organization that seeks to adjust, by peaceful andjust means, the inevitable conflicts that arise in community A Criminal Trial in Progress The lowest in the series of state courts are the justices courts,of which there is at least one in every township. They areJustices presided over by justices of the peace. Only cases courts 0f small moment come before justices courts: civil cases involving very small amounts, and cases of minorinfractions of the law punishable by small fines or by shortterms in jail. Persons accused of more serious crimes may havea preliminary examination in a justices court and, if the evi-dence warrants it, be committed to jail to await the action of OUR STATE GOVERNMENTS 439 the grand jury (see below). Most cases in a justices court are disposed of by the justice of the peace alone; but a jury trial may be demanded in all criminal cases, and in civil suits where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars (Const., Amendments VI, VII). More serious cases, civil or criminal, are tried in the county, or district, courts before a ju
Size: 1873px × 1334px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectcountrylife, bookyear
