Jury Nullification - Law Dictionary Search Results
Home Dictionary Name: jury nullificationjury nullification
jury nullification : the acquitting of a defendant by a jury in disregard of the judge's instructions and contrary to the jury's findings of fact NOTE: Jury nullification is most likely to occur when a jury is sympathetic toward a defendant or regards the law under which the defendant is charged with disfavor. Except for a statutory requirement to the contrary, a jury does not have to be instructed on the possibility of jury nullification. ...
Jury nullification
Jury nullification, means a jury's knowing and deliberate rejection of the evidence or refusal to apply the law either because the jury wants to send a message about some social issue that is larger than the case itself or because the result dictated by law is contrary to the jury's sense of justice, morality, or fairness, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 862....
jury
jury pl: ju·ries [Anglo-French juree, from feminine past participle of Old French jurer to swear, from Latin jurare, from jur- jus law] : a body of individuals sworn to give a decision on some matter submitted to them ;esp : a body of individuals selected and sworn to inquire into a question of fact and to give their verdict according to the evidence occasionally used with a pl. verb [the are always to decide whether the inference shall be drawn "Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr."] see also advisory jury, array, grand jury, inquest, jury nullification, petit jury, special jury, trial jury, venire Amendment VI to the Constitution in the back matter NOTE: The jury of American and English law most likely originated in early Anglo-Norman property proceedings, where a body of 12 knights or freemen who were from the area, and usually familiar with the parties, would take an oath and answer questions put to them by a judge in order to determine property rights. Jury verdicts began to be us...
nullification
nullification : the act of nullifying : the state of being nullified see also jury nullification ...
Jury
Jury [fr. jurata, Lat.; jure, Fr.], a number of persons sworn to deliver a verdict upon evidence delivered to them touching the issue.Trial by jury may be traced to the earliest Anglo-Saxon times. One of the judicial customs of the Saxons was that a man might be cleared of an accusation of certain crimes, if an appointed number of persons (juratores, or more properly compurgatores) came forward and swore to a veredictum, that they believed him innocent. It is remarkable that for accusations of any consequence among the Saxons on the continent, twelve juratores was the number required for an acquittal. Similar customs may be observed in the laws of Athens and Rome, where dikaotai and judices answer to jurors, an of the continental Angli and Frisiones, though the number of jurors varied.See, as to the introduction and growth of trial by jury in England, Forsyth's History of Trial by Jury; and for comments on and proposed amendments of the law, see Erle's Jury Laws and their Amendment, pu...
Special jury
Special jury, a jury consisting of persons who, in addition to the ordinary qualifications, are of a certain station in society as esquires, bankers, merchants, etc. The Jurors Act, 1870, s. 6, provides that every man whose name shall be on the jurors' book for any county in England or Wales, or for the county of the City of London, and who shall be legally entitled to be called an esquire, or shall be a person of higher degree, or shall be a banker or merchant, or who shall occupy a private dwelling-house rated or assessed to the poor rate, or to the inhabited house duty, on a value of not less than 100l. in a town containing, according to the census then next preceding the preparation of the jury list, 20,000 inhabitants and upwards, or rated or assessed to the poor rate, or to the inhabited house duty, on a value of not less than 50l. elsewhere, or who shall occupy premises other than a farm, rated or assessed as aforesaid on a value of not less than 100l., or a farm rated or assess...
jury trial
jury trial : a trial in which a jury serves as the trier of fact called also trial by jury see also Article III Article VI and VII Amendments VI and VII to the Constitution in the back matter compare bench trial NOTE: The right to a jury trial is established in the U.S. Constitution, but it is not an absolute right. The Supreme Court has stated that petty crimes (as those carrying a sentence of up to 6 months) do not require trial by jury. The right to a jury trial in a criminal case may be waived by the “express and intelligent consent” of the defendant, usually in writing, as well as, in federal cases, the approval of the court and consent of the prosecutor. There is no right to a jury trial in equity cases. When a civil case involves both legal and equitable issues or procedure, either party may demand a jury trial (and failure to do so is taken as a waiver), but the judge may find that there is no right to jury trial because of equitable issues or claims. ...
advisory jury
advisory jury : a jury impaneled at the discretion of a trial judge to assist the judge in deciding a case NOTE: Advisory juries are allowed in cases in which there is no right to a jury or in which the right to a jury has been waived. The judge may follow or disregard the advisory jury's verdict. ...
jury commission
jury commission : a body of appointed public officers who maintain a jury list and select the names of prospective jurors usually at random by use of a jury wheel NOTE: Jury commissions may be used in some federal district courts and state courts instead of or in addition to computerized jury selection. Jury commissions are usually organized on the county level and are used in almost 20 states. ...
Discharge of a jury
Discharge of a jury takes place (1) either by the act of God, as the death of one of the jury; or (2) in due course on the termination of the trial by verdict (or sentence); or by the discretion of the judge determining that they are so exhausted as to be incapable of continuing their deliberations, or so divided as to be unable ever to agree, or that there is other sufficient cause. After such discharge there may be a further trial by another jury. See Winsor v. The Queen, (1866) LR 1 QB 289 (390), in which the Exchequer Chamber held this upon writ of error in a trial for murder in which the jury had declared at five minutes before a Saturday midnight that they were unable to agree, and on a second trial another jury found the prisoner guilty and she was sentenced to death and afterwards hanged....
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