History:
The jury system within the English legal system has evolved over a number of years, rather than being created from scratch. It has relatively changed since its first introduction on the days after the Norman Conquest. At first, the function of the jury was to partake the role of witnesses and provide general material considering local matters and determining which persons owned a certain piece of land and at where the boundary of the land was met. It was not until under the power of Henry II, that the jury took a considerably more important role within the judicial system. Jurors moved away from the method of reporting the events which they were aware of and moved towards the approach of evaluating evidence which was put forward by the parties present in court and …show more content…
This important aspect of the jury process came into effect after the Bushell’s case (1670) - In this case, two Quakers conducted a speech and preach in the middle of a street in the centre of London. Under legislation, it was forbidden and unlawful for more than five people to perform a religious assembly. Therefore the defendants were arrested and taken to court, it was here where the Judges attempted to bully the jury into finding the men guilty of a crime. However, the jury opposed that and found the defendant as not guilty, even though the Judge had warned them to find them as guilty, or they would be locked up ‘without meat, drink, fire and tobacco’. Eventually the Jury were released after an application for an appeal was accepted. Prior to this decision, judges would attempt to manipulate and force the jury into favouring their opinion as to whether the dependant was guilty or not guilty and that the outcome should be the same as theirs. At the present moment is important that a jury gives their own verdict and this ideology is supported by the House of Lord’s decision, in the case of R v Wang (2005) in which the House of Lord’s confirmed that a judge cannot tell the Jury
The jury system within the English legal system has evolved over a number of years, rather than being created from scratch. It has relatively changed since its first introduction on the days after the Norman Conquest. At first, the function of the jury was to partake the role of witnesses and provide general material considering local matters and determining which persons owned a certain piece of land and at where the boundary of the land was met. It was not until under the power of Henry II, that the jury took a considerably more important role within the judicial system. Jurors moved away from the method of reporting the events which they were aware of and moved towards the approach of evaluating evidence which was put forward by the parties present in court and …show more content…
This important aspect of the jury process came into effect after the Bushell’s case (1670) - In this case, two Quakers conducted a speech and preach in the middle of a street in the centre of London. Under legislation, it was forbidden and unlawful for more than five people to perform a religious assembly. Therefore the defendants were arrested and taken to court, it was here where the Judges attempted to bully the jury into finding the men guilty of a crime. However, the jury opposed that and found the defendant as not guilty, even though the Judge had warned them to find them as guilty, or they would be locked up ‘without meat, drink, fire and tobacco’. Eventually the Jury were released after an application for an appeal was accepted. Prior to this decision, judges would attempt to manipulate and force the jury into favouring their opinion as to whether the dependant was guilty or not guilty and that the outcome should be the same as theirs. At the present moment is important that a jury gives their own verdict and this ideology is supported by the House of Lord’s decision, in the case of R v Wang (2005) in which the House of Lord’s confirmed that a judge cannot tell the Jury