The Wealth Test for Justice
A new statute restricting jury duty to 'taxpayers' effectively excludes the working class from serving as peers in legal proceedings.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The legislature of 1909, for the purpose of keeping laboring men off the jury, passed a new statute requiring jurors to be 'an elector and taxpayer of the state of Washington.' Because personal property under $300 is exempt from tax, most laboring men are not technically 'taxpayers' and are therefore disqualified. This statute is a direct slap at the laboring classes. If a poor man is charged with a crime, or a worker is injured due to an employer's negligence, they cannot be tried by a jury of their peers, but must submit their case to a jury of taxpayers. The Supreme Court of Utah has held that such a requirement infringes upon the constitutional guarantee of a fair trial.
“The laboring man is now deprived of the right of trial by a jury of his peers.”
This article exposes how procedural rules—like property requirements for juries—were used to weaponize the legal system against the working class, a struggle that prefigures modern discussions on systemic inequality in the justice system.
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