State Ex Rel. Denson v. Miller
State Ex Rel. Denson v. Miller
Opinion of the Court
As a preliminary to the filling of jury boxes under the Jury Law of 1909 (Acts 1909, p. 305), section 10 of the law requires that the jury commission “shall make in a well-bound book a roll of . every male citizen living in the county, who possesses the qualifications herein prescribed.” The names on this1 roll are required to be written separately on white cards, which are placed in a metal jury box, provided with a lock and two keys, one kept by the president of the commission and the other by a judge of a court of record having juries. Thff box must be kept in the vault or safe of the probate judge, or, if he has none, in any other safe or vault in the courthouse.
No provision is made for the custody or safe-keeping of the jury roll, and there is nothing in the act itself which either permits or forbids the inspection of the roll by the general public, or by persons who are interested in litigation, present or prospective, which may be the subject of jury trial.
Under the former Jury Law (Code 1907, § 7239), the commission was required to prepare a list of the names of persons selected for jury service, and to file a certified copy of this list, in a sealed envelope, in the office of the probate judge, and that officer was required to “keep such list securely and not .allow the seal of the envelope to be broken, or such list to be inspected by any one, save the jury commissioners, unless under an order of the judge of the circuit, city, or criminal court of the county.”,
The jury roll is made and kept exclusively for the use of the jury commission, and no person has a right to inspect and use it for private ends. We are clear in the conclusion that the demurrer to. the petition was prop-, erly sustained as to this aspect of the relief sought.
“The ordinary office of the writ of mandamus is to coerce the performance of single acts of specific and imperative duty. The court will not undertake to compel the perfoz’manpe of a series of continuous acts, as it is impossible to furnish that superintendence without which the court’s mandate becomes nugatory.” State ex rel. City of Mobile v. Board of R. & R. Com. Mobile Co., 180 Ala. 489, 61 South. 368.
The judgment of the circuit court will be affirmed.
Affirmed.
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Reference
- Full Case Name
- STATE Ex Rel. DENSON Et Al. v. MILLER, President of Jury Commission of Shelby County
- Cited By
- 13 cases
- Status
- Published