Commonwealth v. Maxwell

Citations

• 271 Pa. 378
• 114 A. 825
• 16 A.L.R. 1134
• 1921 Pa. LEXIS 513

Syllabus

<p>Jury — Qualifications—Constitutional law — “Trial by jury shall be as heretofore” — W'omen as jurors — Nineteenth Amendment to Constitution of United States — “Elector”—Words cmd phrases— Act of April 10,1867.</p> <p>1. The provision of the Constitutions of Pennsylvania of 1790, 1838 and 1873 “that trial by jury shall be as heretofore,” refers to the kinds of causes triable before juries, and the trial, not the qualifications of the jurors.</p> <p>2. The qualifications of jurors is now, and has alwayg been, even at common law, the subject of legislative control.</p> <p>3. The term “elector” is a technical, generic term, descriptive of a citizen having constitutional and statutory qualifications that enable him to vote.</p> <p>4. The designation “qualified elector” in the Act of April 10, 1867, P. L. 62, requiring jury commissioners to select a jury “from the whole qualified electors” of the county, embraces all electors at the time jurors are selected from the body of the electors, and also all those who may be added to the electorate from time to time.</p> <p>5. Under the Act of April 10, 1867, and the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, women are eligible to serve as jurors in all the courts of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.</p> <p>Statutes — Construction—Application of new cases and new subjects.</p> <p>6. Legislative enactments in general and comprehensive terms apply to new eases, and to new subjects that are created from time to time, and which come within their general scope and policy.</p> <p>In re Opinion of the Justices (Mass.), 130 N. E. 685, distinguished.</p>