Harris v. People

Citations

• 128 Ill. 585
• 21 N.E. 563
• 1889 Ill. LEXIS 935

Syllabus

<p>1. Trial by jury—in criminal cases—constitutional guaranty—waiver of jury—whether allowable, so as to confer jurisdiction upon the judge. By the constitution of the State, the common law right to a trial by jury in criminal cases is guaranteed, and declared to be inviolable, and the statute requires that, except as therein provided, all trials for criminal offenses shall be conducted according to the course of the common law. It thus seems that the power to conduct criminal trials in any other mode than that which prevailed at common law is necessarily excluded.</p> <p>2. So in a prosecution for a felony, when the plea of not guilty is entered, the right to a jury trial can not be waived by the accused, so as to confer upon the court jurisdiction to try, convict and sentence the defendant without the intervention of a jury.</p> <p>3. It is true, a defendant in a criminal case may waive a trial by jury by plea of guilty. But while he may waive a trial by jury, he can not, by such waiver, confer jurisdiction to try him by a tribunal which has no such jurisdiction by law.</p> <p>4. A jury of twelve men being the only legally constituted tribunal for the trial of an indictment for a felony, it necessarily follows that the court or judge is not such tribunal, and that in the absence of a .jury he has, by law, no jurisdiction. If he attempts to sit as a substitute for a jury, and perform their functions in such eases, his act must be regarded as nugatory.</p> <p>5. Court—for trial of criminal cases—of what officers it must consist. The Criminal Court of Cook county, and the circuit courts, when properly constituted for the trial of criminal cases, and especially for the trial of felonies, consist not merely of a judge, but also of a clerk, a sheriff, a State’s attorney and a jury. The judicial functions brought into exercise in such trials are parceled out between the judge and the jury, and so long as there is no law authorizing it, the functions to be exercised by th