Law, Politics, and the Jury

1999 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 603-607
Author(s):  
Mike Macnair
Keyword(s):  
Common Law ◽  
Jury Trial ◽  
Anglo Saxon

I am grateful for the opportunity to clarify some parts of my argument that is afforded by the comments of Charles Donahue and Patrick Wormald. I should say at the outset that I am not seeking to propose a monocausal explanation of the origins of the generalized use of jury trial at common law, whether a “stirps” or a “smoking gun” (Donahue), or to exclude altogether the relevance of Anglo-Saxon practice or strong government (Wormald)—though I am pretty skeptical of the specific Carolingian-Norman lineage proposed by Brunner.

Towards a redefinition of the role of the court interpreter

Interpreting ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly Mikkelson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Jury Trial ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
State Statutes

Various federal and state statutes in the United States define the role of the court interpreter with clear and unequivocal rules. This definition is based on the underlying principles of the U.S. legal system, which is derived from the Anglo-Saxon common-law tradition. Consequently, the distinctive features of that system, including the jury trial and the concept of adversarial proceedings, make the function of the court interpreter quite different from that of his/her counterparts in other countries. In recent years, the judiciary has made an effort to enhance the public's access to the justice system, but at the same time, the latest wave of immigration comprises individuals from societies in which cultural norms differ greatly from those of the United States. Moreover, many of these immigrants have received little or no formal education. As a result, judiciary interpreters feel somewhat constrained by the rules that govern their profession when they strive to bridge the cultural and linguistic gap. This paper reexamines the function of the court interpreter in light of these circumstances and an analysis of prevailing practices in other countries, and proposes a new approach to the interpreter's role.

Catholic Use of Anglo-Saxon Precedents, 1565–1625

2003 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 537-555 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donna B. Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
Common Law ◽  
Anglo Saxon

The study of antiquarianism and particularly of the use of Anglo-Saxon precedents in England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries has belonged primarily to historians of Protestantism and parliament, to their studies of English Protestant antiquarians and English Protestant theories of common law, royal absolutism, constitutionalism, Laudian Anglicanism, and non-conforming Protestant resistance. Although it has been clear to everyone that Protestant interest in Saxonism was part and parcel of an anti-Catholic agenda, the Catholic side of this discourse has been virtually unexamined. The focus almost exclusively on Protestant Saxonism has isolated even Protestant thought from some of the contexts within which it developed and, more obviously, has all but occluded the importance of Saxonism to a range of Catholic arguments.

The fate of evidence law: Two paths of development

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhuhao Wang
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Common Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
Jury Trial ◽  
Electronic Evidence ◽  
New Science ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
Jury Trials ◽  
Evidence Law ◽  
The Right

Evidence law was famously deemed ‘the child of the jury’, its development widely perceived as a by-product of the jury trial. Conventional wisdom tells us that juries, because of their cognitive and epistemic failings, can hardly be trusted and thus need rules of evidence to steer them in the right direction. Therefore, given that jury trials are vanishing in the United States and other common law countries, we must question whether the traditional evidence-law model is sustainable. At the same time that juries have been on the decline, rapid developments in science and technology have led to new forms of evidence, including scientific evidence, electronic evidence and process-based evidence. Presenting these new types of evidence at trials, however, often creates a mismatch with the traditional evidence-law framework. A systematic redesign of 21st-century evidence law to better accommodate the intensified interplay between science, technology and the law seems to be the next natural development. This essay explores these two distinct paths of evidence law—the old, jury-driven model and a new, science-directed model—and argues for preserving the old path while at the same time spending more resources and making greater effort to accommodate these new forms of evidence.

scholarly journals Better to Explain or to Testify? The Position of the Accused as a Source of Oral Evidence in a Criminal Trial in a Comparative Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 47-77
Author(s):  
Hanna Kuczyńska
Keyword(s):  
Common Law ◽  
Criminal Trial ◽  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Present Evidence ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Different Shapes ◽  
The Common ◽  
Oral Evidence

In this article the position of the accused as a source of personal evidence in three different European legal systems: Poland, Germany, and England, will be presented. This analysis will be oriented to understand the way of functioning of the two different models of giving statements of fact by the accused at a criminal trial. The main difference is that in the common law model of criminal trial the accused may only present evidence by testifying as a witness speaking about what happened, whereas in the continental model the accused gives a specific personal type of evidence (that in the Anglo-Saxon literature is rather described as “oral evidence”) that is known as explanations. From this differentiation several consequences arise: among others, the possibility of presenting untruthful explanations and presenting many versions of events in the continental model which have to be assessed by the judges. At the same time, the same right of the accused to silence and not to give incriminating evidence applies in both models of criminal trial – however, in two different shapes and with different types of limitations.

scholarly journals Consumer Dispute Resolution: A Comparative Study between Indonesia and Common Law System Countries

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-333
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Dispute Resolution ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Common Law ◽  
The Other ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Law System ◽  
Presidential Decree ◽  
Small Claims ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Small Claims Court

Abstract Since 2001, based on the mandate of Article 49 paragraph (1) of Law no. 8 of 1999 on Consumer Protection, BPSK (Badan Penyelesaian Sengketa Konsumen/Consumer Dispute Resolution Institution) has been established based on Presidential Decree No. 90/2001 on the establishment of BPSK in several cities in Indonesia. In some countries that embrace the Anglo Saxon legal system, consumer dispute cases are resolved by an institution called The Small Claims Court (SCC) and The Small Claims Tribunal (SCT). The difference in settlement through three institutions is that BPSK is a formal institution which resolves small disputes with low-cost, but does not limit the size of the lawsuit filed by consumers. On the other hand, SCT provides clear restrictions on claims that can be filed by consumers. At the completion done by SCC, the assemblies that resolved the case come from active and retired judges, while in BPSK the assemblies come from government, businessman and consumer with different backgrounds.

scholarly journals Reform of the Spanish jury trial

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (4) ◽  
pp. 184-190
Author(s):  
Alexandra Kuzina
Keyword(s):  
Jury Trial ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Criminal Process ◽  
Legal Method

The article discusses the reform of the Spanish jury court in 1995, based on the provisions of the classical jury court of the Anglo-Saxon legal family. The author uses a comparative legal method to identify the features of the adversarial and inquisitorial systems of law, allowing to distinguish between the main models of the criminal process. Comparing the essence of the American jury trial as a representative of the Anglo-Saxon system with its Spanish counterpart, the author comes to the conclusion that the reform didn’t lead to drastic changes, but it only strengthened the investigative nature of the process.

scholarly journals Habeas corpus w Polsce oraz w niektórych państwach kręgu common law. Analiza prawnoporównawcza

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Przemysław Krawczyk ◽  
Bartosz Łukowiak
Keyword(s):  
Common Law ◽  
United States Supreme Court ◽  
Case Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
Habeas Corpus ◽  
Legal Analysis ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Legal Code ◽  
Procedural Law ◽  
European Court

In their article, Przemysław Krawczyk and Bartosz Łukowiak discuss the issue of the habeas corpus procedure. On the basis of a comparative legal analysis, they present a model of the functioning of this institution in Poland and in selected countries whose legal code is based on common law. Krawczyk and Łukowiak discuss in detail, among other things, the scope and the subject matter of this mode and the catalogue of guarantees associated with it. Their research has made it possible to compare the most important similarities and differences in the functioning of the habeas corpus privilege in the Polish legal code and in common law. This, in turn, has allowed them to assess the accuracy of some of the solutions known to the Polish criminal procedural law. This article contains extensive references to the views expressed on this mode both in the Polish and the Anglo-Saxon doctrine of the procedural criminal law and to the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the United States Supreme Court.

scholarly journals Women in Pakistan – A Comparative Analysis of Women's Rights on the Basis of Anglo-Saxon and Muslim Legal Traditions

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1/2020) ◽  
pp. 283-322
Author(s):  
Amna Hassan
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Legal Traditions ◽  
Sharia Law ◽  
Basic Parameters ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
Status Of Women

This paper draws attention towards the legal status of women in the Anglo-Saxon (common law) and Muslim legal traditions (Sharia law) of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. In the beginning, the paper provides elaboration on the concept and historical background of Sharia law. The paper then chalks out in detail the historical background of women’s status in Pakistan based on two basic parameters, that is, on the basis of their rights under Sharia law and on the basis of their rights under common law i.e. the Constitution and legal Statutes. Although Sharia law generally treats women as equal to men, there are still certain matters in which women are treated unequally such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, property rights, etc. The paper then concludes with a comprehensive analysis of the rights of women in Pakistan under both systems of law through a study of case-law.

scholarly journals The Timeless Quest for Truth in a World of Doubt: Re-Examining Modes of Proof in the Medieval Era

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 141-158
Author(s):  
Isaac Amon
Keyword(s):  
Common Law ◽  
Jury Trial ◽  
Norman Conquest ◽  
Medieval Europe ◽  
The Common ◽  
Legal Proof ◽  
Historical Methods ◽  
William The Conqueror

This article presents a brief overview of historical methods of legal proof prior to and soon after the Norman Conquest of England in October 1066. Through an examination of the rituals of compurgation and the ordeal, which were techniques designed to discover truth prior to the establishment of the inquisition in medieval Europe and the common law jury trial in England, the human quest for intellectual conviction has been indelibly with us since the days of antiquity. And, whichever method to ascertain truth is ultimately utilized – compurgation or ordeal, inquisition or cross-examination, trial by judge or by jury – the law’s enduring search for certainty amidst a world of doubt owes much to the history and times of William the Conqueror.

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