Decline of the English Jury

• NCJ Number: 72366
• Journal: American Business Law Journal Volume: 17 Issue: 1 Dated: (1979) Pages: 99-112
• Author(s): J Driscoll
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 14 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article focuses on the factors underlying the British jury's demise and considers the contemporary English debate on the proper scope of jury trial.

Abstract

Doubts about the ability of laypeople to participate in the legal process have been most prominent whenever eligibilty for jury service has widened. The major democratization of the English jury panel occurring this century came about not a a result of legislative reform, but as the incidental result of periodic revaluation of properties for local authority rating purposes. The result was that all adults who are eligible to vote should be eligible for jury service. Yet by the 1960's there had also emerged a complicated system of classification of offenses, according to their mode of trial, with an enormous increase in those offenses for which defendants had no right to elect jury trial and with magistrates trying the majority of offenses. Magistrates' jurisdiction depended on the defendant's consent. In civil cases, dissatisfaction with jury trial was widespread, with arguments that jury trials are less predictable and that the quality of jurors was deteriorating. The jury trial is now available only in cases involving reputation, with personal injuries cases being managed by trial by judge alone. Yet the value of England's jury trials has been upheld by a defendants' survey which held that magistrates are biased towards the police and that jury trial is fairer. As against the evidence that magistrates are biased towards the police is the widespread public distrust of the police. Yet defendants suffer a number of handicaps if they dispute the police version or make imputation against prosecution witnesses generally. A defendant has no enforceable right to have a lawyer present during the interrogation, the judges' rules are frequently ignored, and the results of the interview are not independently viewed before trial. Thus, particularly in criminal cases, jury trials are still highly valued by a substantial body of opinion. Further, most recent restrictions on jury trial and interferences with randomly drawn juries have been heavily criticized. Included are 92 footnotes.