Juries.
Trial by jury was introduced
[
200]
into
England during the
Saxon heptarchy, six
Welsh and six Anglo-
Saxon freemen being appointed to try causes between Englishmen and Welshmen of property, and made responsible with their whole estates, real and personal, for false verdicts.
By most authorities the institution is ascribed to Alfred about 886.
In
Magna Charta, juries are insisted on as a bulwark of the people's liberty.
An act for trial by jury in civil cases in
Scotland was passed in 1815.
The constitution of 1791 established trial by jury in
France.
An imperial decree abolished trial by jury throughout the
Austrian Empire, Jan. 15, 1852.
Trial by jury began in
Russia, Aug. 8, 1866; in
Spain, 1889.
In
Scotland,
Guernsey,
Jersey, and
France juries decide by a majority; in
France, since 1831, a majority of twothirds is required.
Under the original
Constitution of the United States provision is made for the trial of criminal cases by jury, but not of civil cases.
This caused dissatisfaction, people claiming that the omission was intended to abolish trial by jury in civil cases, hence the Seventh Amendment was adopted at an early day, securing the rights of trial by jury in suits at common-law where the value in controversy exceeds $20. Grand juries (of not less than twelve or more than twenty-three persons) decide whether sufficient evidence is adduced to put the accused on trial.
In the
United States, owing to many striking instances of the miscarriage of justice, there has been in recent years an influential sentiment in favor of having verdicts of juries rendered on the majority vote of the jurors.
