The historic English jury had local knowledge and was subject to judicial coercion.
Evidence
Although the American jury has its roots in the English jury, which originated before the Norman conquest in 1066, it differs from its early counterpart in several respects. Juries in England were initially composed of local residents who had personal knowledge of the dispute at trial. Only gradually did the modern notion develop that jurors should be disinterested citizens who decide cases solely on the basis of evidence presented at trial. It was also not uncommon in England for judges or political authorities to pressure a jury to reach the verdict they desired. A particularly egregious example occurred in the trial of William Penn in 1670 for unlawful assembly and breach of the peace. When the jurors found Penn not guilty of the charges, the judge refused to accept their verdict and sent them back to deliberate some more. After twoand-a-half days of deliberation without food, water, or chamber pot, the jury still would not convict Penn; so the angry judge fined each of the jurors and kept them in jail until they could pay their fines. This outrageous conduct produced a backlash and effectively ended the practice of coercing juries to reach “correct” verdicts. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 867
Categorization
- CANDY: William Penn’s 1670 jurors being jailed without food or water for refusing to convict makes a lively conversational anecdote about jury independence.
- XREF: connects to: English juries originally judged from personal knowledge, not presented evidence; Early nineteenth-century courts reassigned the jury from community law-maker to fact-finder. — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 855; The jury evolved from self-informing locals into disinterested evidence-weighers — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1405
Broader Connections
- English juries originally judged from personal knowledge, not presented evidence
#corroborates(0.95) - The jury evolved from self-informing locals into disinterested evidence-weighers
#expands(0.85) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1405 - Early nineteenth-century courts reassigned the jury from community law-maker to fact-finder.
#expands(0.78) — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 855