prohibited when the new Straits dollars began to arrive, sterling exchange rose in the Straits as compared with neighboring countries, and a strong tide of Mexican and British dollars began to flow from Hongkong, the Philippines, China, French Indo-China and other neighboring countries toward Singapore, in anticipation of the future prohibition of their importation and their redemption in the new dollars. The money market was so flooded with this money that considerable currency exportations were soon found profitable.

The new dollars began to arrive early in October, and the governor, pursuant to the authority given him in the ordinance of September 25, 1903, immediately upon the arrival of the first shipment of the new coins, issued an order prohibiting the exportation from the colony of the Straits Settlements dollar and the further importation into the colony of Mexican or British dollars. The new dollars are being coined at the Bombay mint, and since October 1 nearly every boat coming to Singapore from Colombo is said to have brought several hundred thousand of the new dollars. The money received is being placed in circulation through the instrumentality of the treasury and the banks.

It is yet too early to pass judgment upon the success of the scheme adopted, and prophecies with reference to currency problems in the Orient are exceedingly dangerous. Moreover the details of the methods to be adopted for maintaining the sterling parity when it once has been attained and for adjusting the currency supply to the demands of trade have not yet been made public. So far the Straits have simply begun to substitute one silver currency for another, and the colony will continue to be on a silver standard until the old local currency has been displaced by the new, and the new currency has been raised to a fixed sterling equivalent yet to be decided upon. This process anywhere would be a slow one; in the Orient, where custom and prejudice are such dominant factors in all matters pertaining to the currency, it is likely to be especially slow.

The promptness and ease with which the change will be effected depend very largely upon the future course of silver and the sterling par of exchange which the Straits government finally adopts. It is generally believed that the par of exchange fixed

will be two shillings. This is the rate that has been most persistently urged, a rate which would not materially alter the existing unit of account, or the more recently contracted long-time obligations, a rate in harmony with the units of neighboring countries, as for example, the Japanese yen, the Philippine peso, the French piastre, the Mexican and British dollars, and a rate easily assimilated to the currency of the home country. If silver should continue anywhere near its present price the silver content of the new dollar, moreover, would, at a two-shilling rate, be sufficiently large to offer little inducement to counterfeiting, and on the other hand, sufficiently below the nominal value of the dollar to offer little probability of its being melted down for bullion.

If silver falls so that it shall become necessary to raise considerably the value of the new dollars in order to bring them to the sterling par decided upon, the time required to effect the change will be a long one, and the monetary stringency, which will be a condition sine qua non to raising their value, will be severe; while the additional burden placed upon that part of the debtor class who have long-time obligations contracted at times when the monetary unit was considerably below the par of exchange fixed upon, and payable in the new and higher priced dollar, will be a heavy one, except in so far as it may be lightened by special legislation or by increased incomes (largely temporary) arising from the adoption of a monetary unit of account of a higher value. In these respects a low price of silver is likely to entail upon the Straits Settlements a repetition of the unfortunate experiences which India passed through during the period from 1893 to 1898.

During the time that the value of the new dollar is being raised above the value of the Mexican and British dollars, at a parity with which it shall have been permitted for a considerable time to circulate, great care will be necessary to prevent the illicit importation of these coins, which would tend to displace the new dollars and to prevent the realization of the currency scarcity necessary to raise the new dollar to the sterling par adopted. To prevent this contingency it seems quite probable, that if the Mexican and British dollars are materially cheaper in the out

side market than the sterling value fixed upon for the new Straits dollar, it will be found necessary to put into effect the measures penalizing the circulation of the old currency, authorized in the ordinance of September 25, 1903.

If on the other hand the price of silver rises so that the market value of the old dollars is practically equal to the sterling value given to the new dollar, and if their value remains at this high point long enough to create a prejudice in favor of the new dollar and to establish in the business community the habit of using it, a subsequent fall in the value of the old money would leave the new dollar in possession of the field, and offer little inducement toward the illicit importation of the Mexican or British dollars. Under this contingency the penalizing of the circulation of the old money would probably be unnecessary.

MANILA, P. I., March 1, 1904.

E. W. KEMMERER.

T

TRIAL BY JURY IN GERMANY.

HE organization of the courts in Germany and the rules of procedure, both civil and criminal, are regulated by imperial law. The ordinary courts are four in number and, taken in descending order, are the following: the Reichsgericht, the Oberlandesgerichte, the Landgerichte and the Amtsgerichte. There is but one Reichsgericht. Its seat is at Leipzig. With respect to the remaining courts, their number increases with the decrease in extent of their local jurisdiction, the most numerous being of course the Amtsgerichte. All the ordinary courts, with the exception of the Amtsgerichte, are collegiate, and all, without exception, have both civil and criminal jurisdiction.

Trial by jury is known, according to German law, only in . criminal procedure and, further, is limited to cases which lie within the competence of a single court. This court is the Schwurgericht. It is not specifically mentioned in the law among the ordinary courts of Germany. At the same time it does not belong to what are known as "special courts." The law of judicial organization (Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz) provides for the erection of Schwurgerichte "bei den Landgerichten," i.e. at the seat of, and out of members of, the Landgerichte. These Schwurgerichte are not permanent courts. They are constituted periodically, their session, when not expressly fixed by state law, being determined by the state judicial administration (Landesjustizverwaltung). Strictly speaking, they belong to the Landgerichte. They are, in a way, secondary organs through which a part of the activity of the Landgerichte is manifested.

The Schwurgericht is composed of three learned judges and twelve laymen called to serve as jurors. The judges are appointed by the president of the Oberlandesgericht in whose jurisdiction the 1 Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz of January 27, 1877, with amendments of May 17, 1898; Civilprozessordnung of January 30, 1877, with amendments of May 17, 1898; and Strafprozessordnung of February, 1877. In the notes these laws will be referred to as GVG, CPO and StPO respectively. For good discussions of the German judicial system, see Laband, Deutsches Staatsrecht, 1901, vol. iii, pp. 335 et seq., and Garner, "The German Judiciary," POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY, vol. xvii, p. 490, and vol. xviii, p. 512.

court is erected. One of these judges, chosen to serve as president during the single session, is selected from the associate justices of the Oberlandesgericht, or from the members of the Landgericht. The other two judges are always taken from the Landgericht. The mode of selecting the jurors is set forth below. The jurisdiction of the Schwurgericht is limited to criminal cases and extends over all criminal cases for which the other courts are not competent. Broadly speaking, all the more serious crimes, with the exception of treason, are tried before the Schwurgericht and are therefore tried by jury.

I.

"The office of juror is an honorary office. It may be held only by a German." The juror, therefore, receives no pay for his services. He may, however, without violating the law, accept such a refunding of his travelling expenses as state legislation may provide for. Before the law of judicial organization went into effect, the rule obtained, in several of the German states, that no man could serve as juror unless he were a subject of that particular state. The imperial law has removed this limitation. Any man possessed of citizenship in the Empire, no matter to which state he may belong, is competent for jury service, provided no question other than that of citizenship arises. The participation of a non-German as juror would render the proceeding void.2

In determining who may serve as juror, the law approaches the subject from the negative side, designating in the first place those who are incompetent; in the second place, those who, though legally competent, should not be summoned; and in the third place, those who, though competent and summoned, may refuse the summons.

Under the first category may be grouped three classes of persons: (1) persons who have forfeited the right to serve, as the result of a criminal judgment; (2) persons against whom trial has

1 GVG, sec. 81.

2 The definition of a "German" is fixed by the imperial law of June 1, 1870. See, on effect of participation of a "Nichtdeutscher," Löwe, Komm. z. StPO, p. 52, note 3 to GVG, sec. 31.

3 By "competent" is meant legal competence merely. capacity is not drawn into question in this first category.

Mental or physical