"This book is an account of the evolution of the jury and jury trial from early times to the present day including changes brought in by the Criminal Justice Act 2003 that widen the categories of people undertaking jury service." "The Criminal Jury Old and New traces the genesis of the historic system of 'trial by peers' from its roots as a replacement for trial by ordeal through all its great legal and political landmarks. It shows how the jury changed and developed across the centuries to become a key democratic institution capable of resisting monarchs, governments, pressure and interference - and, on occasion, the plain words of the law. It also looks at such intriguing concepts as 'jury nullification', 'perverse verdicts' and 'pious perjury'."--BOOK JACKET.

This book explores why juries have declined in power and how the federal government and the states have taken the jury's authority.

Twelve Good Men and True brings together some of the most ambitious and innovative work yet undertaken on the history of an English legal institution. These eleven essays examine the composition of the criminal trial jury in England, the behavior of those who sat as jurors, and popular and official attitudes toward the institution of jury trial from its almost accidental emergence in the early thirteenth century until 1800. The essays have important implications for three problems central to the history of criminal justice administration in England: the way in which the medieval jury was informed and reached its verdict; the degree and form of independence enjoyed by juries during the early modern period when the powers of the bench were very great; and the role of the eighteenth-century trial jury, which, although clearly independent, was, by virtue of the status and experience of its members, arguably a mere extension of the bench. This extensive collection marks the first occasion on which scholars working in several different time periods have focused their attention on the history of a single legal institution. Written by J. M. Beattie, J. S. Cockburn, Thomas A. Green, Roger D. Groot, Douglas Hay, P.J.R. King, P. G. Lawson, Bernard William McLane, J. B. Post, Edward Powell, and Stephen K. Roberts, the essays utilize sophisticated techniques to establish from a variety of manuscript sources the wealth, status, and administrative experience of jurors. Originally published in 1988. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.