AMERICAN TRIAL BY JURY

O ne of the salient characteristics of american civil and criminal justice, which causes and explains many other significant structural and procedural differences from corresponding civil law institutions, is the use of a lay jury to decide disputes of fact in civil and criminal cases. It can be fairly said that the role of the jury in civil and criminal trials is central not only to the structure of the proceeding and functions of its participants but also to the fundamental values that the civil and criminal justice system protect and promote. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF AMERICAN JURY TRIAL Trial by jury developed in England and was exported to the American colonies along with the other features of English civil and criminal justice. The Anglo-American jury has its roots in the Middle Ages, when English judges assembled groups of knowledgeable citizens from the locality where a crime was committed to assist in the determination of the identity of the wrongdoer. Over the centuries, this early inquest jury evolved into two subforms: the grand jury and the petit or trial jury. Grand juries have the responsibility of determining whether the facts relating to a particular event justify the lodging of a criminal charge, or indictment, against a particular person. In this sense, they are investigative in nature. Grand juries function ex parte and in secret. Generally, they hear only the prosecution's evidence, although grand juries have been known to subpoena evidence sua sponte .