Lecture # 19 Juries By: Salik Aziz Vaince [0313-7575311] Introduction . The concept of the jury system was probably imported into Britain after the Norman Conquest, though its early functions were quite different from those today. Early jurors in England acted as witnesses providing sources of information on local affairs. But they gradually came to be used as adjudicators in both civil and criminal disputes. Under Henry II, the jury began to take on an important function, moving from reporting on events they knew about, to deliberating on evidence produced by the parties involved in a dispute. Gradually it became accepted that a juror should know as little as possible about the facts of the case before the trial, and which is the position today. The jury is considered as fundamental part of the English legal system, even though only a minority of the cases is tried by the jury in these days. In a sense it plays a vital role in ensuring that the criminal justice system works for the benefit of the public rather than for the benefit of unjust leaders. It promotes not only a healthy criminal justice system but also a healthy society, where political leaders cannot abuse criminal justice system to silence their opponents. It has attained such an importance that Lord Devlin wrote in 1956: “Trial by jury is more than an instrument of justice and more than a wheel of the constitution; it is the lamp that shows that freedom lives.” . Jury plays a vital role in the criminal justice system in England and Wales and many other countries in the world. But the constitutional position of the English jury is in danger because of the unwritten constitution. In England, because of unwritten constitution, the right to trial by jury is not contained in the constitution. Generally, it is governed by ordinary Act of the parliament, which can be amended by the Parliament any time. So the government of the day could alter or even abolish the right to jury trial. However, due to the political barriers, the government is very cautious in doing this. Juries Act 1974 is the main statute governing the present day jury. Currently, the role of the English jury is almost entirely limited to the more serious criminal cases, but juries occasionally sit in civil trials as well. History of the jury system . Juries have been used in the legal system for over 1,000 years. There is evidence that they were used even before the Norman Conquest. However, in 1215 when trial by ordeal was condemned by the Church and (in the same year) the Magna Carta included the recognition of a person’s right to trial by ‘the lawful judgment of his peers’, juries became the usual method of trying criminal cases. Originally they were used for providing local knowledge and information, and acted more as witnesses than ©VLC Publishers www.vlc.com.pk Page 1 decision-makers. By the middle of the fifteenth century, juries had become independent assessors and assumed their modern role as deciders of fact. Jury service . A member of a jury listens to evidence and decides on the guilt or innocence of a defendant in a Crown court trial. They are part of a group of 12 jury member chosen totally at random from the electoral register. A jury member will receive a “summons” to do jury service which asks for detailed information about the citizen. This must be returned within 7 days. Jury service last for 10 working days. Trials last for on average between 2-3 days so jury members may sit on more than one case. Jury service is unpaid. However jury members can claim for travel expenses, meals and loss of earnings. If the jury member does not turn up for jury service this will a criminal offence with a fine of Upto £1000. The rules governing who can qualify to be a jury member are contained in the Juries Act 1974. Meaning . The word jury is derived from the French word ‘juror’, which means "to swear an oath." . Definition . A Jury is groups of citizens which hears the testimony in legal disputes and apply their common-sense to the matter of determining the guilt or innocence of someone accused of an offence. Independence of the jury . The independence of the jury became even more firmly established following Bushell’s Case (1670). In that case several jurors refused to convict Quaker activists of unlawful assembly. The trial judge would not accept the not guilty verdict, and ordered the jurors to resume their deliberations without food or drink. When the jurors persisted in their refusal to convict, the court fined them and committed them to prison until the fines were paid. On appeal, the court of commons pleas ordered the release of the jurors, holding that jurors could not be punished for their verdict. This established that the jury was the sole arbitrator of fact and the judge could not challenge their decision. A more modern-day example demonstrating that judges must respect the independence of the jury is R v McKenna (1960). In that case the judge at the trial had threatened the jury that if they did not return a verdict within another 10 minutes they would be locked up all night. The jury then returned a verdict of guilty, but the defendant’s conviction was quashed on appeal because of the judge’s interference. The function of the jury . The function of the jury is to weigh up the evidence and to decide what the true facts of the case are or what actually happened. The judge gives the direction to the jury on the relevant law, which the jury has to apply to the facts of the case in order to reach a verdict. If it is a criminal case and the jury has given a verdict of guilty, then the judge will decide on appropriate sentence. In civil cases, juries function is to decide on how much money should be awarded in damages. ©VLC Publishers www.vlc.com.pk Page 2 . Modern day use of the jury . Only a small percentage of cases are tried by jury today. However, juries are used in the following courts: • Crown court for criminal trials on indictment (charging a person with some offense) • High Court, Queen’s Bench Division (but only for certain types of cases) • Country Court (for similar cases to the Queen’s Bench Division) • Coroners’ Courts (in some cases) . Juries in criminal cases . The most important use of juries today is in the Crown Court where they decide whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty. Jury trials, however, account for less than one per cent of all criminal trials. This is because 97% of cases are dealt with in the Magistrate’s Court and of the cases that go to the crown court; about two out of every three defendants will plead guilty. Also some of the cases at the crown court, in which the defendant has entered a not guilty plea, will not go before a jury as the case will be discharged by judge without any trial. This occurs where the crown prosecution service withdraws the charges, possibly because a witness refuses to give evidence. A jury in the Crown court has 12 members. Use of juries at a glance Court Type of case Role Number on jury . Crown court . Serious criminal cases: . Decide verdict . 12 . e.g. murder, manslaughter, . Guilty or not guilty rape . High court . Defamation . Decide liability . 12 . False imprisonment . If find for the . Malicious prosecution claimant also decide . Any case alleging fraud amount of damages . County court . Defamation . Decide liability . 8 . False imprisonment . If find for the . Malicious prosecution claimant also decide . Any case alleging fraud amount of damages . Coroners . Deaths: . Decide cause of . 7 – 11 court . In custody death . As the result of an act or omission by a police officer . Where the death was caused by a notifiable accident, poisoning or disease Juries in civil cases . Juries in civil cases are now only used in very limited circumstances, but where they are used they have a dual role. They decide whether the claimant has proved his case or not, then, if they decide that the claimant has won the case, the jury also go on to decide the amount of damages that the defendant should pay to the claimant. ©VLC Publishers www.vlc.com.pk Page 3 . Up to 1854 all common law actions were tried by jury, but from 1854 the parties could agree not to use a jury and gradually their use declined. Then in 1933 the Administration of Justice Act limited the right to use a jury, so that juries could not be used in disputes over breach of contract. The present rules for when juries may be used in civil cases are set out in s 69 of the Senior Courts Act 1981 for High Court cases, and s 66 of the County Courts Act 1984 for cases in that court. These Acts state that parties have the right to jury trial only in the following types of cases: • Defamation, i.e. cases of libel and slander (this is the most frequent use of juries) • False imprisonment • Malicious prosecution • Fraud . All these cases involve character or reputation and it is for this reason that jury trial has been retained. Even for these cases a jury trial can be refused by the judge if the case involves complicated documents or accounts or scientific evidence and is therefore thought to be unsuitable for jury trial.