Peremptory Challenge - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition peremptory-challenge

Definition :

Peremptory Challenge, an arbitrary species of challenge to a certain number of jurors without showing any cause.

This privilege is granted to a prisoner in cases of treason and felony, but not misdemeanour, and is denied to the Crown. In treason a prisoner can challenge without cause thirty-five jurors, unless the treason affects the King's person, when the number is limited to twenty, as in felony [(English) Treason Acts, 1695, 1800 and 1842, and the (English) Juries Act, 1825]. See also the (English) Criminal Law Act, 1827, s. 3.