Jury

JURY
“Trial by a jury is a lamp that shows freedom lives”
( Lord Dervllin)
What constitutes jury is a cluster of randomly selected individual also regarded as
laymen in order to resolve a case in a court is called jury. Jury trials are held for a
fair decision as jury is diverse with compared to a negative impacts of a judge trial
where judges often gets judicially biased in judgments and hearings in a court.
Mostly, judges are from Elite classes which builds up a gap & generates class
system between them & the Parties struggling in the courts however in jury trials,
there’s a person from every aspect and class of the society who provides verdict
for a certain case. This exercise builds up the public confidence in the legal system
eradicating biasness and class system and ensuring the access to justice. It
upholds R.O.L in a manner that people are given fair and equal rights and
countering the rigidity caused by judge trials.
The composition of a jury trials depends upon the case .Firstly in Criminal cases,a
committee of 12 jurors are formed for any certain trial. Secondly,in civil cases it
depends upon the court it’s being appealed in. If the case is being tried in High
Court, then a group of 12 jurors will be formed and if it’s a County court, then a
group of 8 jurors is formed .Thirdly, in Corners court,12 jurors attend the trial.It
depends upon defendant either they opt for a Judge or Jury Trial. . However, it is
vey unfortunate that not more tham 1 % of the cases are heared by the jury trials.
This is because of lack of promotion of the jury trials, and the benefits attached
with the. It is needed to increase the scope of jury trials, fir different type of
cases. E.g family cases. And along with that the promotion of jury trial must also
be made in a reasonable manner.
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The Age Limit set to be eligible for a Jury is 18-75 years old and the selection of
jury is based upon the department of JSB(JURY SELECTION BURUEA).The JSB
Selects individuals from Electoral Registers(E.R) randomly & they can’t set aside
their selection unless given a reasonable justification The criteria of a jury also
includes the professionals of the city. Criminal Justice Act(CJA) states that even a
judge can become a jurer which means that an off duty judge can be a part of a
jury fulfilling his legal and Citizen Role .The lord Chief Justice Guidance further
elaborates this statement as “A judge should only be given preponderance, can
only be excused in extreme circumstances otherwise a judge must take part in
the jury if he’s selected” .Police officers can also be invited to take a jury trial
except for the fact if they’re of the surroundings where the incident of that
certain case took place as seen in the case of R v Williamson.

The edging factor of jury trial which surpasses the Judge trial is that Jury isn’t
bound to give reasons for it’s verdict in contrast to Judge trials where Ratios and
Obiters are formed .Meanwhile, this factor was argued in the case of Taxquit v
Belgium. It was Feuded that this act breached Article 6 of ECHR “Right of Fair
Trial” but the Court contradicted. Similarly in the case of R v MIoza whose facts
are’a jurer sent a letter to judge in which it was mentioned that all his other
fellow juros are racist but the Court abhorred this action and stated that you can’t
break the secrecy of a jury”. Even if they’re racist the court held that their
confidentiality can’t be breached. Correspondingly , the Section 8(1) of Contempt
of Court Act declares that If any individual compromises the confidentiality of a
Jury,they’ll be held liable for Contempt of Court whatsoever the reason as seen in
the case of AG v Solicitor. These cases lays out the evidence that jury doesn’t owe
a legal duty r to give any reason for it’s decision and the secrecy of juries debate
can never be compromised. With some edging benefits comes misconducts too.

With some edging benefits comes misconducts too.The four section of Criminals
Justice and Court Act(CJ&CA) defines the misconduct of juries which are as
follows:Section 71 defines that Jury can’t carry out research for a trial as research
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based decisions aren’t required by jurors in Jury trials.The evidence provided
infront of them is the first and last things they’re required to handle because
researching by any individual juror can lead to biasness.Section 72 defines that
personal research can’t be shared to other jurors in between the trials.Other
prohibited measurments are provided in section 73.Lastly,Section 74 defines that
Disclosure of any research will be approved in exceptional case which is when it’ll
be in the interest of Justice, research that’s essential for the justice can be
disclosed. In AG v Della, a lady researched on social interaction application and
shared it among her fellow jurors for which she was sentenced to 6 Months
imprisonment by Court under Contempt of Court. The tight statutory controls are
adequate in terms of ensuring the working of jury system in an efficient manner,
in line with its very aims of justice and fairness.

Although there are certain situation where Jury trials can be set aside by
Courts.First situation is Section 44 which states Jury Tempering; where any jury is
approached by a third party for unjust means such as inducement or
menacing.The Heathrones case correlates with Sec 44 in which a robbery of 1.7
Million pounds was carried out and jury was approached with Mala fide intention
therefore the court ordered to refrain from the Jury Trial in this case.The Section
Situation is the Section 44(6) which point towards the dangers of Jury being
biased.Subsequently,the case of JSM v R futher elaborated this section by stating
that Non Jury Trial will only be applied in the extreme cases where there’re real &
present danger for a jury become biased. Since the jury trials have high potential
of tempering, this exception of not allowing the jury trial is fair, with a ,legitimate
approach created by the courts in the list of cases.

To wrap things up,it is based on the findings of Robert and Hough that Jury trials
are vital as people have a high level of confidence and faith in the Concept of Jury
Trial. The jury trial upholds the Doctrine of Rule of Law as well as it ensures the
Right of fair trial to the public and it also ensures due process in the law. Juries are
inexpert in law,they convey out the verdicts on the basis of emotions which highly
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links and understand with the accused’s situation.It is also concluded that Jury’s
verdict is binding on a judge.The community displays a positive attitude for the
Jury trials therefore it should be held and upholded