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Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow CHAPTER II.: STATE OF JURY PACKAGE IN SCOTLAND. - The Works of Jeremy Bentham, vol. 5 (Scotch Reform, Real Property, Codification Petitions)

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CHAPTER II.: STATE OF JURY PACKAGE IN SCOTLAND. - Jeremy Bentham, The Works of Jeremy Bentham, vol. 5 (Scotch Reform, Real Property, Codification Petitions) [1843]

Edition used:

The Works of Jeremy Bentham, published under the Superintendence of his Executor, John Bowring (Edinburgh: William Tait, 1838-1843). 11 vols. Vol. 5.

Part of: The Works of Jeremy Bentham, 11 vols.

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CHAPTER II.

STATE OF JURY PACKAGE IN SCOTLAND.

On this head much stands expressed in a few words.

Extract from an anonymous pamphlet published on the occasion of the Scotch judiciary reform, under the title of Reflections on the Administration of Civil Justice in Scotland, &c.: Edinburgh, for Blackwood; London, for Longman & Co. 1806—page 88, note:—

“The mode of appointing juries in criminal cases is most improper. The sheriff may return forty-five men chosen by him at pleasure; the judge may select any fifteen of them to compose the jury; peremptory challenges are unknown. Is it not obvious that these two officers have the fate of a prisoner often in their hands?—in other words, that they can return what is termed in England a packed jury? Nothing should be left in criminal cases to the discretion of persons over whom the crown is always likely to have influence; and therefore it is much to be wished that a clause should be introduced in the bill, which is to be founded on the resolutions, in order to regulate the appointment of juries in criminal cases.”*

If, in the statement thus made by an anonymous, though not altogether an unknown hand, there be a syllable of truth—and by known, and well-informed and trust-worthy informants, I am assured that it is correctly true—the packing system has in that kingdom been carried to a pitch of perfection equal in efficiency at least, if not in dexterity, to that which it has attained in England, and this not only where personal liberty alone, but where life and everything else, is at stake. If, in the whole population of that kingdom, electors and elected, there be a human being fit for anything better than to serve as a tool in the chest belonging to Lord Melville, or a commissioner in the committee of reform, headed and characterized by that name, behold an occasion for him to show himself.

[* ]By 6 Geo. IV. c. 22 (20th May 1825,) the persons qualified as jurymen are summoned by the sheriff in rotation, and from them the individuals to serve on each trial are selected by ballot.—Ed.