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Inside the Jury Room

Document Cited authorities 1 Cited in Related
Vincent
DOI10.1350/jcla.68.1.1.25836
Date01 January 2004
Published date01 January 2004
AuthorJames Morton
Subject MatterOpinion
JCL 68(1).doc..Opinion .. Page1
OPINION
Inside the Jury Room
James Morton
In the next few months the House of Lords will make a decision about
investigating racism in the jury room. Any case involving an allegation
of racism is, in these politically sensitive days, likely to get sympathetic
consideration. If their Lordships do decide to allow investigation in what
went on behind the closed doors then it will overturn years of resolute
blocking by the courts. It will also clear up a curious anomaly.
Every lawyer has a jury story from those of The Old Muster Circuit by
Maurice Healy, which included such gems as, ‘Is that the verdict of you
all?’ ‘Yes, most of us’, to add to their own experiences. In the past if the
problems occurred outside the jury room, the court would look into
them. Much less so if it happened after the jury had retired. Here the
court has set its face against inquiring into what went on behind closed
doors. Patrick Back QC used to tell the story of when in his early days as
a Recorder he found the jury bailiffs in Bournemouth quite improperly
sitting in with the jury. When he berated them he was told, ‘We don’t
take no part, sir, but we do hear some funny things’. So far the courts
have not wanted to hear those funny things.
It was a former client of mine, ‘Manchester’ Frank Thompson, who
gave his name to the case which, back in 1975, set the pattern for the
future. At least he claimed that dubious honour. I was not acting for him
on that occasion, so I cannot be sure, but he had the misfortune to
appear before Kesteven Quarter Sessions charged with office breaking
with intent. It isn’t clear exactly what happened but he was a man with
some considerable charm and, when the jury retired, they seem to have
been quite keen to acquit him. It was then that the foreman of the jury
produced a list of Frank’s previous convictions. Where the foreman had
acquired the list was never made clear—there can’t have been too many
suspects—but it was apparent Frank had acquired the convictions over...

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