The Early Jury

In the old days, juries were pretty weird. Jury members were neighbors of the parties to the case, and also witnesses, in a sense. The jury was sworn to tell the truth. If a defendant complained about the verdict, a jury that was twice as big (the grand jury) was assembled to examine the first jury. If the first jury was found to be wrong by the second jury, the second jury’s verdict would hold and the first jury would be punished! We are asked to imagine how unlikely it is that the second jury would actually elect to convict the first jury.

There were gradual changes in this system. Witnesses could be called who were not members of the jury to provide “expert” testimony. Eventually, slowly, the jurors were converted into finders of fact who were supposed to base their decisions on the evidence and not on their own knowledge.

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