Re:A Quiet Evening’s Reading: ‘Notable British Trials’
by gadders on Wednesday June 27, 2018 @05:04AM
(#17406742)
Juries in Scotland also have 15 people, not 12.
Re:A Quiet Evening’s Reading: ‘Notable British Trials’
by docdeek on Wednesday June 27, 2018 @05:55AM
(#17406940)
I grew up in Australia where a jury consists of 12 people. I've lived in France for the last 12 years, though, and here the jury (when there is one) it will typically be either 6 or 9 citizens. One of the overseas territories uses a jury system that only has 4 people, and then expands to 6 on appeal. It would be interesting to understand how the 'Anglo Saxon' system (outside of Scotland, it seems) settled on 12 people.
This is an interesting alternative to the binary guilty/not guilty verdict. Notably, Senator Arlen Specter wanted to vote "not proven" on Bill Clinton's impeachment:
"Juries in criminal cases under the laws of Scotland have three possible verdicts: guilty, not guilty, not proven. Given the option in this trial, I suspect that many Senators would choose 'not proven' instead of 'not guilty'. That is my verdict: not proven. The President has dodged perjury by calculated evasion and poor interrogation. Obstruction of justice fails by gaps in the proofs."
http://edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/02/12/senate...