tute. Under former practice the jury numbered
twenty-three and the concurrence of twelve was necessary.

The grand jury is bound to investigate the charge against any one held by
a justice "to await the action of the grand jury;" also any charge brought
by a member of the grand jury. And conversely it is the sworn duty of each
member to report any crime known by him to have been committed within the
county. Any outsider may file information or bring charges, but the grand
jury may use its own judgment as to the necessity of investigating them.

Petit Jury.--A petit jury is a body of twelve men impaneled and sworn in a
district court to try and determine by a true and unanimous verdict, any
question or issue of fact, in any civil or criminal action or proceeding,
according to law and the evidence as given them in court.

The mode of selecting petit jurors is in general the same as that pursued
in selecting grand jurors. The "list of persons qualified to serve" is,
however, usually larger. The "selection by lot" is made thus: slips of
paper, each containing one of the names, are folded and deposited in a
box. The box is shaken, and the prescribed number of slips is drawn. The
persons whose names thus appear are summoned as jurors.

When an action is called for trial by jury, the clerk draws from the jury
box the ballots containing the names of the jurors, "until the jury is
completed or the ballots exhausted." If necessary, the sheriff under
direction of the court summons bystanders or others in the county to
complete the jury. Such persons are called _talesmen_.

To secure an impartial jury, each party may object to or "challenge," a
number of the jurors. The challenge may be "peremptory" or "for cause."
The peremptory challenge, as its name implies, is one in which no reason
need be assigned. The number of such challenges must, of course, be
limited. In civil suits it is usually limited to three by each party. In
criminal cases, the state has usually two peremptory challenges and the
defendant five. If the offense is punishable with death or state prison
for life, the state has in Minnesota seven peremptory challenges and the
defendant twenty.

Challenges for cause may be either general or particular. A general
challenge of a proposed juror may be made on the basis of his incompetency
or unworthiness to act in such capacity in _any_ action. A particular
challenge may be based on some bias in this particular case whi