Chapter 11 part one - eight

The presiding judge looked through some documents, asked a few questions to the civil executive and the clerk, got an affirmative answer, and summoned the defendant to appear in court.The door behind the railing opened, and in came two gendarmes, wearing military caps and sheathed sabers in their hands.The three defendants followed, first a man with auburn hair and freckles, and then two women.The man was wearing a prison robe that grew out of proportion to his stature.As he walked into the court, he spread his thumbs apart and pressed his hands against the seams of his trousers so that the overly long sleeves would not slip down.His eyes were not on the judge or the spectators, but on the bench he passed.He walked around the bench and sat down on the edge, leaving a place for someone else to sit. Then he fixed his eyes on the president, and the muscles in his cheeks quivered, as if he was muttering something.Coming in behind him was a woman of not young age, also wearing a prison robe.She had a prisoner's turban wrapped around her head, her face was pale, her eyes were red, and she had no eyebrows or eyelashes.The woman looked very calm.She walked over to her seat, her robe caught on something.She took it off carefully and without haste, and sat down.

The third accused was Maslova. As soon as Maslova came in, all the men in the court turned their eyes to her, and stared for a long time at her pale face, with watery black eyes, and her high breasts protruding under the gown.Even the gendarme stared at her as she walked past people until she sat down.When she sat down, the gendarme seemed to feel that it was inappropriate, and hurriedly turned away, pulled himself together, and stared out of the window blankly. The president waited for the accused to sit down; when Maslova sat down, he turned to the clerk. The usual trial process began: the number of jurors was counted, the problem of absent jurors was discussed, their fines were determined, the leave of jurors was dealt with, and the list of alternate jurors was appointed.Then the presiding judge folded up a few small pieces of paper and put them in the glass jar, then slightly rolled up the embroidered cuffs of the uniform, revealing his hairy hands, and took out the pieces of paper like a magician, and opened them , read the name on the note.Then the president put down his cuffs and asked the priest to take the oath with the jurors.

The priest was a little old man with a swollen, sallow complexion.He wore a brown cassock with a gold cross on his breast and a small medal pinned to the side of the cassock.Slowly moving his swollen legs through his vestments, he approached the lectern under the icon. The jurors stood up and rushed to the reading table. "Come here, please!" The priest touched the cross on his chest with his swollen hands, waiting for the jurors to walk over. This priest has been in office for more than forty-six years, and in three years he will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of his office as the high priest did not long ago.He had served in the District Court since the jury courts began, with the pride of having sworn tens of thousands of people, and of serving church, country, and family in his later years.After his death, he not only left a house to his family, but also had interest-bearing securities of no less than 30,000 rubles.He led people in court to take an oath by the Gospel, which just forbids people to take an oath, so the work was not justified.It never occurred to him.Not only has he never felt guilty about it, but he also loves it because it allows him to meet many famous people.Today he got acquainted with the famous lawyer and admired him very much, because he only managed to defeat the old lady with the flower in her hat, and he got ten thousand rubles in his pocket.

-------- ①Russia implemented judicial reform in 1864, established jury courts, and conducted public trials of criminal cases. When the jurors had all walked up the steps to the stage, the priest put his gray-haired bald head on one side, put on a greasy holy belt, then smoothed out his thinning hair, and turned his face to the jurors. "Hold up your right hand, fingers close together like this," he said slowly in an old voice, lifting his swollen hand with dimples on each finger, fingers close together, as if pinching something. "Now read after me," he said, leading the oath: "By God Almighty, before his holy Gospel and his life-giving cross, I promise and swear that in this case..." he said, Pause. "Keep your hands up like this and don't let them go," he said to a young man who had put them down. "In this case..."

The handsome man with the beard, the colonel, the businessman, and a few others all raised their right hands as requested by the priest, with their fingers together, and raised them very high and vigorously, looking very happy, but the others seemed a bit reluctant , not quite happy to do so.Some people recited the oath very loudly, as if deliberately provocatively saying: "I will do it, I will do it." Some people just mumbled their mouths and fell behind the priest. catch up.Some people clasped their hands viciously, as if they were afraid of dropping something.Some people loosen and pinch their fingers.Everyone felt awkward, only the little old priest was full of confidence and thought he was doing something useful.After taking the oath, the president asked the jurors to choose a chief juror.The jurors stood up one after another and huddled together into the deliberation room.As soon as they arrived at the meeting room, they all immediately took out their cigarettes and started smoking.It was proposed that the handsome gentleman should be foreman of the jury, and it was immediately accepted.They throw away or stub out the butts and return to the courtroom.The elected chief juror reported to the judge who was elected, and everyone returned to their original positions, stepped over the feet of others, and sat down on the two rows of high-back chairs.

Everything went smoothly, without delay, and in a very solemn atmosphere.This orderly and meticulous ceremony satisfied all the participants, and reinforced the belief that they were participating in a serious and important social work.Nekhludoff felt this too. As soon as the jurors are seated, the president explains to them the rights, responsibilities, and obligations of jurors.When the president was speaking, he kept changing his posture, leaning on his left elbow for a while, leaning on the elbow of his right arm for a while, leaning on the back of the chair for a while, resting on the armrest of the chair for a while, straightening a stack of papers for a while, and rubbing the paper for a while. A paper knife, fumbling with a pencil for a while.

The president said that the right of jurors is to interrogate the defendant through the president, to use pencil and paper, and to see physical evidence.Their responsibility is that the trial must be fair and no falsification is allowed.Their obligation is to keep the meeting secret and not to privately share information with the outside world. Any violation will be punished. Everyone listened respectfully and attentively.The businessman reeked of alcohol, barely holding back his full belch, and nodded his head in agreement when he heard a word.