The San Francisco call., 1896-04-24
TRIAL BY JURY.

No Trn ce of the Institution to Be Found
in Anglo Saxon Times.
No trace of such an institution as jury
can be found in Anglo-Saxon times, for. it
it had existed, distinct mention would
have been frequently made of it in the
body of Anglo-Saxon laws and con-
temporary chronicles which we pos
sess. extending from the time of Ethel
bert "a. D. 56S-616) to the Norman con-
quest, but no mention is made.
With respect to criminal trials we meet
in the ordinance of King Ethelred II $685.
10l6l with a kind of jury of accusation re-
sem bling our Grand Jury and possibly its
direct progenitor. In Gemot of every hun
dred, the twelve senior thegns, with the
reeve, were directed to go apart and bring
accusations against all whom they believed
to have committed any crime. But this
jury did not decide the guilt or innocence
of the accused; that had to be decided by
com mpurgation or the ordeal. This primitive
Grand Jury probably continued in use
after the Norman conquest, until 1t was
reconstructed by Henry II. For more
than hundred years after the conquest
the ancient Anglo Saxon modes of trial or
forms OF proof, by ordeal Gudicium DeD,
by oath (compurgation, termed later on
and production Of characters, con-
tinued in general use alongside the Nor
man procedure-the wager of battle, and
the occasional use of the inquest by
sworn recognirors. The Conqueror was
doubtless desirous that the English should
still continue to enjoy the rights and
usages to which they had been accustomed.
Consequently we find that the distinctive
features of the Anglc-Saxon jurisprudence
were retained by the Conqueror. But he
made, however, some important changes
in the judicial system; he separated the
spiritual and temporal courts; he intro
duced the combat, or duel, as a means of
determining civil suits and questions of
guilt or innocence, and he appointed JUS
tices to administer justice throughout the
realm.
1t was only by degrees, however, that the
advantages of the principle of recognition
by jury in its application to judicial mat
ters were realized. The sworn inquest ap-
pears to have been at first chiefly used for
the determining of non-judicial matters,
such as the ascertaining of the laws OF King
Edward, the assessing OF feudal taxation
under William II and Henry |, and the
customs of the Church cf York, which the
latter monarch in 1106 directed five COM
missioners to verify by the oath CT twelve
of the citizens. On one occasion the Con-
queror ordered the Justiciars to summon
the shire moots, which had taken part in a
suit touching the rights of Ely. A num-
ber of the English who knew the state of
the lands in question in the reign of Ed
ward were then to be chosen; these were
to swear to the truth of their depositions,
and action was to be taken accordingly.
But still there are equally early instances
of strictly legal matters being decided by
the recognition on oath of a certain num-
Der OF probiet legales homines, selected
from the men of the county to represent
the neighborhood and testify to facts of
which they had special knowledge. Recog-
milton by jury was applied by Henry II to
every description of business, both fiscal
and legal.-Westminste Review.