Niamh Howlin, Juries in Ireland: Laypersons and Law in the Long Nineteenth Century
| Pages | 138-140 |
| Author | |
| Date | 01 January 2019 |
| DOI | 10.3366/elr.2019.0536 |
| Published date | 01 January 2019 |
In the twentieth century in the legal jurisdictions of the British Isles the use of juries became much less common and is now largely confined to criminal trials. It was very different in the nineteenth century as this book demonstrates in relation to Ireland. Unlike much scholarship on juries which focuses on criminal juries, this study takes a wider perspective and considers lay participation in the whole legal system excluding lay magistrates. It sets the jury in its nineteenth century legal context describing the legislation governing the use and constitution of juries, their remarkable variety, issues surrounding their selection and their practical operation.
Nineteenth century juries carried out a much wider range of functions than would be expected nowadays and these are described in chapters three to seven. Their most common role was in criminal and civil trials. In the criminal process the grand jury operated as a sort of filtering mechanism deciding whether the prosecutor had demonstrated that there was a prima facie case that should go to trial. They were abolished in the Irish Free State in 1924 but not in Northern Ireland until 1969. In addition to grand and petty, or trial, juries there were several others. The role of the coroner's jury is obvious. A special jury could be empanelled to try cases thought to require a higher level of intelligence or understanding, mostly in civil actions, though they could be used in some criminal trials. In the 1880s, following the Phoenix Park murders of the Chief Secretary for Ireland and the Permanent Undersecretary, and agrarian unrest, legislation authorising their use in certain criminal cases was enacted. Manor courts which were local courts dealing with minor crime and some civil actions also had juries. These courts were abolished in 1859.
There was also some more unusual juries. The market jury fulfilled functions that are now carried out by trading standards officers. Because of their continuing role throughout the year service on these juries was not popular. They were abolished in 1876 when their functions were taken over by the police and local authorities. The lunacy jury and the jury of matrons (the only one on which women could serve in the nineteenth century) are from an era when medical science was much less developed and lay persons had a much greater role in decisions that would now be left to experts. The role of the lunacy jury was to determine whether someone was of unsound mind and...
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