The decline of civil jury trial in nineteenth-century England

The nineteenth century saw the beginning of the decline of jury trial as the main dispositive mechanism in civil cases in the Superior Courts. The Common Law Procedure Act 1854 gave civil litigants the choice of jury trial, and during the remainder of the century the proportion of litigants choosing jury trial steadily declined. However, the seeds of this decline were sown in the two decades prior to 1854, during which time three factors combined to undermine the institution of the civil jury: recognition among lawyers of the integrity of the bench, the efforts made by lawyers to professionalize the practise of law, and the successful introduction in 1846 of juryless trials in the County Courts.