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Aqain let me state that the purpose of this amendment is
not to deny a jury trial to anyone, except in those cases
where our Court of Appeals has suggested that a jury trial
is not appropriate. The Court of Appeals has called these
cases petty offenses, and we took the words from the opinion
of the Court of Appeals that I cited to you earlier.
The same phrase is used by the Supreme Court of the United
States in the quotation which I said, and I will read it
again, just so that everybody can have it in their minds.
"It is settled by the decision of this court," meaning the
Supreme Court, "that the right of trial by jury does not
extend to every criminal proceeding. At the time of the
adoption of the Constitution," meaning, of course, the Con-
stitution of the United States, "there were numerous offen-
ses commonly defined as 'petty' which were tried summarily
without a jury."
Now, all I am saying is that I think this is a
valuable principle that ought to be continued in our law,
and it is my understanding that the committee in no way
intended to eliminate that principle from the Constitution
when it drafted the words that are before you. |