By John North , President of the Law Society of New South Wales Juries and their role in the court system are again under the microscope with calls from some quarters to introduce majority verdicts in NSW murder trials.
Juries are an essential element of our legal system.
The more people understand the working of juries the more likely they are to value why peer judgment and unanimity safeguard the right result. The Commonwealth Constitution has been interpreted as requiring unanimous jury verdicts. The Court concluded that only a unanimous jury could convict people of crimes under Commonwealth law. The Law Society has long championed a viable national profession and a move to national uniform laws. It does not make sense to have a Commonwealth decision guaranteeing each citizen's right to a unanimous jury decision and a different situation at state level.