Opinion ID: 2162363
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: History and Origin Grand Jury Indictment

Text: The institution of the grand jury has a venerable history in England. For centuries, when conflicts arose between the powers of the English monarchs and the rights of their subjects, the grand jury was a barrier against persecution in the sovereign's name. Over time, the grand jury came to be regarded as an institution by which the subject was rendered secure against oppression from unfounded prosecutions of the Crown. [6] The English grand jury system has been an integral part of America's jurisprudence ab initio. [7] The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that federal prosecutions for serious crimes must be initiated by a grand jury indictment. [8] The perpetuation of the grand jury's historic function in the United States Constitution as the sole method for preferring charges in serious [federal] criminal cases shows the higher place it held as an instrument of justice. [9] Like its English progenitor, the Fifth Amendment grand jury provision was intended to operate as an independent and objective method for commencing a serious criminal proceeding. [10]