Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing.

While all states currently have provisions for grand juries, today approximately half of the states employ them and only twenty-two require their use, to varying extents.

Medieval juries were self-informing, in that individuals were chosen as jurors because they either knew the parties and the facts, or they had the duty to discover them.

Among them were the removal of trading-hours restrictions on small businesses, abolishing juries for motor accident damage cases, extending the hours for liquor trading, thereby bringing an end to the " Six o ' clock swill ".

The Star Chamber finally summoned juries before it for verdicts disagreeable to the government, and fined and imprisoned them.

Its 1907 constitution and laws had voter registration rules that effectively disfranchised most blacks ; this also barred them from serving on juries or in local office, a situation that lasted until federal civil rights legislation was passed by the US Congress in the mid-1960s.

Grand juries carry out this duty by examining evidence presented to them by a prosecutor and issuing indictments, or by investigating alleged crimes and issuing presentments.

Of the original nine young black defendants ( some of them minors ), accused of gang raping two fellow hobo white women on a freight train, eight were quickly convicted in quick succeesion trials in a mob atmosphere in Scottsboro by all white juries and sentenced to death.

Isaac Butt acted on behalf of both O ' Brien and Meagher, and in both cases the juries were not sufficiently packed to secure a conviction against them.

Bring them before grand juries and charge them with subversive, traitorous activities.

Eyewitness testimonies are an integral aspect in the criminal court system as judges and juries depend on them as evidence to determine a verdict.

Between 1997 and 2006, Rosebraugh received eight subpoenas to appear before federal grand juries to discuss his sources, but he has said he has no knowledge of them and refused to cooperate with the proceedings.

Their trials lasted less than an hour in many cases ; the juries took less than ten minutes to deliberate before pronouncing them guilty and sentencing them to death.

When Leibowitz accused them of excluding black men from juries, they seemed to not comprehend what he was accusing them of.

( Note: Since most blacks could not vote after having been disfranchised by the Alabama constitution, the local juries probably never thought about them as potential jurors, who were limited to voters.

The Quakers had previously treated Indians with respect, bought land from them voluntarily, and had even representation of Indians and Whites on juries.

Local officials would arrest African Americans, use white juries to convict them of trumped-up charges, and fine them for their actions plus court costs.

The Quakers treated the Native Americans with respect, bought land from them voluntarily, and had even representation of natives and European-Americans on juries.

In such work he was thorough, systematic, and patient, with a remarkable power to charge juries so that they understood the exact questions before them.

But the Black Codes denied them the rights to testify against whites, to serve on juries or in state militias, or to vote, and express legal concern publicly.

These awards are voted by a combination of the general membership ( by secret ballot ) and specially-formed juries overseen by various NCS Regional Chapters.

The annual Eurovision Song Contest has been avidly followed in Finland and eagerly participated by the singers voted to the contest by national juries, and were finally successful in 2006 with the melodic heavy rock band Lordi.

The songs were voted on by a total of 120 jurors aged between 19 and 40. who were divided into 12 juries of ten in the following cities: Aberdeen, Glasgow, Belfast, Leeds, Bangor, Manchester, Norwich, Birmingham, Cardiff, London, Bristol & Southampton.

Fourteen regional juries voted on the songs: Bristol, Bangor, Leeds, Norwich, Newcastle, Aberdeen, Birmingham, Manchester, Belfast, Cardiff, Plymouth, Glasgow, Southampton and London.

Fourteen regional juries voted on the songs: Bristol, Bangor, Leeds, Norwich, Newcastle, Aberdeen, Birmingham, Manchester, Belfast, Cardiff, Plymouth, Glasgow, Southampton and London.

Fourteen regional juries voted on the songs: Bristol, Bangor, Leeds, Norwich, Newcastle, Aberdeen, Birmingham, Manchester, Belfast, Cardiff, Plymouth, Glasgow, Southampton and London.

SVT has eleven regional news districts, five of which are represented by a jury in the final of Melodifestivalen. Telephone lines open immediately after the radio preview for the final and do not close until the juries have voted.

Audio recordings of the songs were voted on by 13 regional juries: Bristol, Bangor, Leeds, Norwich, Newcastle, Aberdeen, Birmingham, Belfast, Cardiff, Plymouth, Glasgow, Southampton and London.

These juries formed a second mode for the expression of popular sovereignty ; as in the assembly, citizens acting as jurors acted as the people and were immune from review or punishment.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Most Wanted Terrorists is a list of persons who have been indicted ( formally accused ) by sitting Federal grand juries in the United States district courts, for alleged crimes of terrorism.

He controlled the boards of guardians and appointed the dispensary doctors, regulated the diet of paupers, inflicted fines and administered the law at petty sessions .” The counties were initially used for judicial purposes, but began to take on some governmental functions in the 17th century, notably with grand juries.

Jury trials are used in a significant share of serious criminal cases in all common law legal systems, and juries or lay judges have been incorporated into the legal systems of many civil law countries for criminal cases.

Over time, English juries became less self-informing and relied more on the trial itself for information on the case.

And as the practice was anciently common of fining, imprisoning, or otherwise punishing the jurors, merely at the discretion of the court, for finding a verdict contrary to the direction of these dependent judges ; it is obvious, that juries were then no manner of security to the liberty of the subject.

The fact that juries do not often have to give a reason for their verdict is also criticized, since opponents argue it is unfair for a person to be deprived of life, liberty or property without being told why it is being done so.

Jury trial is common for criminal cases, and juries consist usually of seven lay people.

The qualities which brought him success at the bar were not equalled on the bench ; he had a reputation for unfairness, and complaints were made about his domineering attitude towards juries.

Although ten years of exile would have been difficult for an Athenian to face, it was relatively mild in comparison to the kind of sentences inflicted by courts ; when dealing with politicians held to be acting against the interests of the people, Athenian juries could inflict very severe penalties such as death, unpayably large fines, confiscation of property, permanent exile and loss of citizens ' rights through atimia.

As has already been noted, rhetor was the Greek term for orator: A rhetor was a citizen who regularly addressed juries and political assemblies and who was thus understood to have gained some knowledge about public speaking in the process, though in general facility with language was often referred to as logôn techne, " skill with arguments " or " verbal artistry.

Legal affairs were overseen by local judges and juries, with a central role for trained lawyers.

Daugherty was later put on trial for corruption charges two times and acquitted ; both juries were hung and failed to reach a verdict ( in one instance after 65 hrs.

Though none of the men were found guilty by the all-white jury ( as blacks had been disfranchised under the South Carolina constitution, they could not serve on juries ), Thurmond was congratulated by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP ) and the American Civil Liberties Union ( ACLU ) for his efforts.

A grand jury does not require a suspect be notified of the proceedings, and grand juries can be used for filing charges in the form of a sealed indictment against unaware suspects to be arrested later by a surprise police visit.

In very rare, high-profile cases, juries may be sequestered for the deliberation phase or for the entire trial.

It is the county council that have the responsibility to appoints juries for a tenure of four years under which they may serve in multiple cases.

In the United States jurors for grand juries are selected from jury pools.