Go here to read a short and clear note by my colleague David Wagner attempting to rehabilitate the place of juries in contemporary America. Most significant for me was David's observation that the right to trial by jury is not associated only with the parties to a legal matter: "To whom did this “jury right” belong? The criminal suspect? The civil plaintiff and defendant? All of these—but also to the citizen who would take a turn as a juror." (Emphasis added.)
In other words, at the time of the framing and ratification of the Constitution it was widely if not universally believed that the right to serve on a jury was every bit as important as the right to vote. The citizenry had as much to say about the particular application of the law to a particular circumstance as it did to the creation of the law through its elected representatives.
Today, of course, the desire to escape jury duty is a standard trope of everyday conversation. Reconsideration of the reason for the jury's substantial place in the Bill of Rights is in order.
In other words, at the time of the framing and ratification of the Constitution it was widely if not universally believed that the right to serve on a jury was every bit as important as the right to vote. The citizenry had as much to say about the particular application of the law to a particular circumstance as it did to the creation of the law through its elected representatives.
Today, of course, the desire to escape jury duty is a standard trope of everyday conversation. Reconsideration of the reason for the jury's substantial place in the Bill of Rights is in order.
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