Jury System in England and Wales: Challenges and Reforms

This article discusses the role of the jury system in England and Wales, its challenges, and suggested reforms. It covers the advantages of the English jury system, challenges faced by it, and the reforms suggested for it. The article also provides information on the unique features of the English jury system and its comparison with the legal system of other countries. The subject of the article is law, and it does not mention any specific course code, course name, or college/university.

Running Head: LEGAL SYSTEM (LAW) 0
legal system (law)
MAY 22, 2018
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LEGAL SYSTEM (LAW) 1
Jury system in England and Wales-
In England and Wales, the jury plays an important role in the legal system. England
does not have a codified constitution but an unwritten constitution. It is the reason that the
right of juries to trial is not confined in the constitution of the England and Wales. So it is
administrated by the ordinary act of the parliament. The parliament has the power to amend
it. The jury is a major part of the legal system of England and Wales. It makes sure that
English legal system works in the public interest not for the advantage of undeserved and
corrupt leaders1.
The main advantage of the English jury system is that it avoids the unjust law. The
judges have powers to correct unjust law. The judges have powers to decide whether person
is guilty or not. The government cannot challenge this power. The English jury system
increases confidence and faith in the public. Thus it helps not in maintaining strong criminal
legal system but also in creating healthy society.
Challenges faced by the jury system-
The jury system is a foundation of the legal system. It has to face many challenges which
are following-
1. Challenges without cause ( Peremptory challenges) -
Under some circumstances, the juror can be challenged. Peremptory challenges permit a
party to eliminate probable juror from the panel of jury without giving any reasons2. The
peremptory challenges (challenges without cause) are the rights of plaintiff and defendant in
1 William Forsyth, and Appleton Morgan, History of Trial by Jury (2nd edn, The law book exchange ltd 2017)
2 Hellen Hailsham, Halsbury’s Laws of England (Butterworth 2017)

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a jury trial to eliminate juror before the trial without any explanation or purpose. The exercise
of peremptory challenge is most debatable question of process of jury’s selection. Thus the
object of the peremptory challenge is to give the surety to the parties that jurors will be
judged on the basis of the evidences presented before the jurors. It will not be judged on any
other given basis or ground.
The peremptory challenges were allowed in English legal system. They are still permitted
in other jurisdictions. In early time, the 25 peremptory challenges were allowed to
defendants. Later, in 1925 it reduced to 12 peremptory challenges. In 1948, only 7 challenges
were allowed and in 1977 the defendant were allowed to make 3 peremptory challenges. In
1988, the rights of peremptory challenges were totally eliminated3.
2. Challenges for the cause-
The challenges for the cause mean request to dismiss the prospective juror because
there are strong grounds to believe that a person cannot be able, fair-minded and impartial as
a juror4. Generally, the challenges for the cause are made during the asking questions of the
jurors. The purpose of the challenges for cause is to disqualify a prospective juror for
reasonable grounds5. The plaintiff or defendant can make challenges for cause as the juror on
the following reasonable grounds-
1. When the juror is not so eligible or not so qualified or,
2. When the juror has become partial.
3 Francis Pakes, Comparative Criminal Justice (Routledge 2017)
4 Denny Hirschel and Richard Zell, Criminal Justice in England and the United States (Oxford University Press
2016)
5 Smith Robert, ‘Reviewing the function of criminal appeals in England and Wales’ [2017] Jersey and Guernsey
Law Review 52

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Thus the challenges for the cause can be made on the basis of the opinions and the past
experience or knowledge of the juror. When a juror cannot be disqualified on the ground of
his religion, the challenge for cause can be made because as per the ground of religion it
could not be appropriate to give judgement on any other person. If it is found that law is
unfair or potential punishment is inappropriate, then juror can be dismissed.
3. Challenge to the array-
A challenge to the array contains a party who objects to the composition of juror’s panel.
The reason for the challenge to array is choice of the jury panel which violates the rules. If
the triers found the reasonable grounds or causes then triers can allow the challenge to the
array. Thus it is probable to challenge the entire panel of jury on the basis of partiality made
by the court. But in present, this challenge to the array is not so known6.
Reform of the jury-
Reform of the jury means suggested alterations to the jury system. The jury is the major
part of the English jury system in England. It is modified according to the requirement of jury
system and gets fit in the entire legal system. During the past time, many changes have been
made in the English jury system. These changes signify the prospective alterations by a
natural assessment. These modifications symbolise less or more reforms of jury system. For
an example, when the effectiveness of the jury had been approved, it made the institution
disappeared. This reform of the jury system remains unobserved by the public7. Following are
the unique features of the jury system in England and Wales-
6 James Cockburn, and Tom Green, Twelve good men and true: The criminal trial jury in England, 1200-1800
(Princeton University Press 2018)
7 Peter Darbyshire, ‘Jury reform in England and Wales- Unfinished business’ (2014)
<http://eprints.kingston.ac.uk/33455/3/Darbyshire-P-33455> accessed on 23 May 2018

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1. The functions of the jury are limited to the guilty of the specific performance charged
because the jury does not know about the background and information about the
defendant unless defendant himself presents his good behaviour and innocence in
front of jury.
2. The functions of the jury are only on request of not guilty. The magistrate alone can
dispose the case on the request of guilty and on the request of not guilty defendant is
tried by the jury.
3. The evidences which are made from the witness box in the court, are produced by the
lawyers. These evidences are not produced by the magistrate.
4. In England, judge and jury do not consider as two different unique bodies. The Judge
and jury are single body. They distribute their functions between them.
The jury system of England is quite different from the legal system of others even from
United States of America where English foundations form the basis of law8. In England when
democracy and traditionalism are combined, respective institutions change. There is nothing
like that old rule does not fail with the time. The rules need harmony for a judgement and the
principle of the determination of the decisions on the facts. So the reformative alterations
were accelerated by the defeats of the world war mostly in respect of ending the inadequate
and impracticable features.
The court pointed a new approach in the English criminal justice. The right of appeal of
defendant encompasses to the question of law and it is necessary to take approval by the trial
court or by the appeal court in respect of question of fact. The revision can also outspread to
the penalty but not in the case where it is determined by the rules of law9. The decisions can
be revise by the court as follows-
8 The Juries Act, 1974

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1. The court may keep the decisions on the hold because of no evidence or error or
unfair or not reasonable decisions.
2. It is up to the court that it may revise the penalty. The court may increase the
penalty or decrease the penalty.
The orders of the court in respect of the criminal appeal are further appealable to the
House of Lords only on the question of law with exceptions and approval of Attorney
General. The English jury system has been updated to the great extent. The legal system of
England has revised and further it will be revised time to time on the question of reform.
9 Francois Gorphe , ‘Reform of the jury system in European countries: England’ [2009] Journal of criminal law
and criminology 27

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Bibliography
Primary Sources
Statutes and statutory instruments
The Juries Act, 1974
Secondary Sources
Books
Hirschel, D, and Zell, R, Criminal Justice in England and the United States (Oxford
University Press 2016)
Forsyth, W, and Morgan, A, History of Trial by Jury (2nd edn, The law book exchange ltd
2017)
Cockburn, J, and Green, T, Twelve good men and true: The criminal trial jury in England,
1200-1800 (Princeton University Press 2018)
Hailsham, H, Halsbury’s Laws of England (Butterworth 2017)
Pakes, F, Comparative Criminal Justice (Routledge 2017)
Journal Articles
Gorphe, F, ‘Reform of the jury system in European countries: England’ [2009] Journal of
criminal law and criminology 27
Robert, S, ‘Reviewing the function of criminal appeals in England and Wales’ [2017] Jersey
and Guernsey Law Review 52
Websites and Blogs
Darbyshire, P, ‘Jury reform in England and Wales- Unfinished business’ (2014)
<http://eprints.kingston.ac.uk/33455/3/Darbyshire-P-33455> accessed on 23 May 2018