The Jury System

The right to a trilby jury is one of the main freedoms guaranteed in the Bill of Rights of the US Constitution. In criminal cases, a jury of twelve citizens decides the guilt of the person being accused. The government cannot take someone’s right to life, liberty, or property until those twelve citizens are convinced of the accused person’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. In civil cases, the jury represents common sense and the community’s conscience when resolving disputes. The story of the jury, from its origins to its role in the modern justice system, reflects the movement toward self-governance.

The American jury system has its roots in medieval England. The kings who rule from the 6th to the 11th centuries and the Normans who conquered England used various procedures that provided possible models for the jury system. However, the innovations in the legal system by King Henry II showed the earliest resemblance to the modern jury.

King Henry

Many local juries tended to favor local litigants in civil cases. They began “refusing to indict leaders of the Stamp Act (1765), and refusing to bring libel charges against the editors of the Boston Gazette (1765)” (San Mateo County). Many feared this favoritism would threaten interstate and international commerce. When the US Constitution was passed in 1787, it explicitly protected the right to trial by jury in criminal cases, but did not mention civil cases. This did not mean that they could not provide a trial by jury in cases, but simply that it wasn’t mandatory. This became a major point of controversy during the ratification of the Constitution. Finally, the Bill of Rights “guarantee the right to a jury for all criminal cases and in all civil suits exceeding twenty dollars. In addition the constitution of each state guarantees a trial by jury” (Evolution of the American