What is a jury?
Why is a jury used in the British legal system?
Where ‘12 good men and true’ are the heart of the British legal system. Where 12 ordinary laypersons are randomly chosen to decide on facts of a case
- This helps to strengthen legitimacy the legal system
- Also allows for a democratic humanising element in an abstract impersonal trial process
- Reducing the exclusive power of the legal professionals (judges & lawyers) who would command the legal stage and control the legal procedure without inference to opinion of the lay majority
What is the purpose of the jury?
Fundamental purpose is to increase lay participation in the legal system
Which enhances impartiality of the system and public confidence in its fairness
What is the old statute for juries?
What is the new statute that amended the old one?
- Juries Act 1974 - old law (amended by new Act)
- Criminal justice Act 2003 - new law
What is the process of selecting juries?
- Juries are selected at random from the annual electoral register
- This is compiled information provided by household occupants
- The Jury central Summoning Bureau uses a computerised system to select juries at random, to deal with juror responses
What authority shares their view on the selection of juries, why is it good?
Ministry of Justice in How is a Jury Selected (2008)
- “To try the defendant by 12 individuals who are randomly selected helps to maintain a justice system that is fair, independent and democratic.”
What is the 5 criteria that a person must have to be elligible to be a juror under the Crminial Justice Act 2003
- Aged between 18-75
- Registered to vote for government electoral register
- An ordinary resident in the UK for 5 years since their 13th birthday
- Not suffering mental disorder
- Those who aren’t ‘disqualified’ from jury service according to the Criminal Justice Act 2003
What are the 6 excusal/disqualifications from the jury service prior to the CJA 2003?
- Judges
- Justices of the Peace
- Members of the legal profession
- Police and probation officers
- Members of the clergy or religious order
- Suffering from mental disorder
What are the 3 disqualifications from jury service after the amendment by CJA 2003 (Paragraph 2 of Schedule 33)
Came into effect in April 2005 - removing the 1st 3 groups of persons ineligible -
- Judiciary
- Others concerned with administration of justice
- Clergy
What are the 2 lists of situations where jurors may be discharged during trial?
Introduction
- Trial judge may discharge the whole jury if certain irregularities occur
List
- D’s previous convictions are revealed inadvertently during the trial. On grounds that such info should not be disclosed to jurors (irrelevant)
- Individual jurors can be discharged if they are incapable of continuing to act through illness or ‘or for any other reasons’
Only who is allowed vetting (background check and survey) of a juror?
Vetting is only limited to police checking criminal records to ascertain that the juror is not disqualified
- Further checks are done with the consent of the Attorney General in relation to exceptional cases where it involves national security or terrorism
- Where a potential juror’s political beliefs may be biased and interfere with his ability to make fair judgement
What is the role of the jury as a whole?
Allows members of society, rather than the government or professional judges to decide whether a person has committed an alleged crime
What are the 2 academic views on the role of the jury?
What are their ideas behind the role of juries?
Sir Edward Coke in ‘Jury Trials’
- States that members of the public are more equipped with the ‘real world’ experiences which allow them to be more reliable than judges
- Many believe that this also provides more equality since the opinion of 12 individuals are better than the single opinion of a trial judge (who is often labelled as bias people)
Roy Almot in Leave the Jury Alone
- “The beauty of the jury lies, in which the system ensures the law, will conform to what is the ordinary man’s idea of what is just.”
What is the sole function of the jury?
What are other things to take into account regarding the sole function?
role of the jurty
The sole function of the jury is to decide on matter of fact, and matters of law are left for the judge
* This is only in the ideal case
* Most of the time, the jury’s decision is based on a consideration of mixture of law and fact
* Jurors decide whether a person is guilty based on the understandings of the law that the judge explains to them
* This principles was established in the 17th century in Bushell’s Case [1670]
1) Decision has to be made unanimously or by majority
* Must be free from coercion (persuasion) to decide a case independent from any intimidation or pressure form the government or court
2) Jury decides what behaviour is permissible (permitted)
* If they find behaviour is allowed, then the D is not guilty
* This is crucial as, decisions made by a lawyer, using legal knowledge may consider to be wrong (but in the perspective of laypersons may be right)
What is there to note about the function of juries - what is a danger that may arise?
There may be dangers with jury that live outside the self-same community morality (not having the same morals)
* Whereas another objective observer would say that the D acted within the law
* Which is why multiple laypersons with different views are able to come with a reasonable conclusion in the final decision
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Chapter 1: English Legal System28
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Chapter 2: Judicial Precedent41
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Chapter 3: Judicial law making36
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Chapter 4: Statutory interpretation36
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Chapter 5: Civil Justice System (CJS)41
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Chapter 6: Alternative Dispute Resolution30
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Chapter 7: Judiciary46
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Chapter 7: Judicial Independence33
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Chapter 9: Jury14
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Topic 3: Sources of Law42
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Part 4 - History & Constitutional Background35
