The function of the jury. Qualifying for jury service

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 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.

Qualifying for jury service

Eligibility for the jury service used to depend upon the existence of the property qualification, and the juries were criticized for being ‘predominantly male, middle-aged, middle-minded and middle class'.

The qualifications for a person to act as juror and the prohibition from acting as a juror have significantly changed in the last few decades. The number of jurors remained unchanged (twelve). The age limit has been reduced to eighteen years and eligibility to act as a juror has been extended which include anyone who is registered on electoral register and who is not excluded for some specific reason. The basic qualification for jury service is that a person must be between 18 and 70 years of age and must have been a resident in the United Kingdom for at least 5 years since the age of 13 is qualified for jury service.

Schedule 1, part 1 of the Juries Act 1974, as amended by the Juries Disqualifications Act 1984, classes four categories of persons as ineligible for jury service: the judiciary, members of the legal profession and other persons connected with the administration of justice (e. g. the probation service, the crown prosecution service), members of the clergy and mentally ill.

Schedule 1, part II, as amended, disqualifies any person who has been sentenced in the United Kingdom to more than 5 years imprisonment, and the persons who have served any part of certain sentences in the past 10 years, have been placed on probation in the last 5 years, or are currently on bail in criminal proceedings.

Under ss 8 and 9 and schedule 1, part III of the 1974 Act, there are certain categories of the persons who although eligible but may claim to be excused as of right to serve as juror, if they have more pressing duties than jury service. Which include Members of medical profession, members of armed forces and Members of Parliament.

Jurors are randomly selected from the electoral register, so any one listed on the electoral register may be require serving as a juror provided that all the requirements are complied with. Research shows that there have been significant changes in the composition of juries since 1972. However, still there appears to be an inadequate representation of women and ethnic minorities. In his Review of the Criminal Courts Lord Justice Auld Concluded that despite the reforms of previous decades, juries still lacked diversity and were not sufficiently representatives of the communities from which they were drawn.

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