A trying question : the jury in nineteenth-century Canada
Type
Book
Authors
ISBN 10
1442640383
ISBN 13
9781442640382
DDC
347.71
Category
Osgoode Society
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Publication Year
2009
Pages
x, 335 pages
Subject
Canada
Tags
Abstract
"The jury, a central institution of the trial process, exemplifies in popular perception the distinctiveness of our legal tradition. Nevertheless, juries today try only a small minority of cases. A Trying Question traces the history of the jury in Canada and links its nineteenth-century decline to the rise of the professional class." "R. Blake Brown shows that juries could be controversial because they could be 'packed' to achieve desired verdicts and were often considered a nuisance by those who had to serve. With the legal profession's expansion, many viewed juries as amateur, ineffective, and unnecessarily expensive bodies that ought to be supplanted by those trained to sift through and correctly interpret evidence." "A Trying Question's fascinating history outlines the ways in which lay people became less involved in Canada's legal system and illustrates how judges, rather than jurors drawn from the community, would come to find verdicts in most court cases."--Jacket.
Description
Content:
Storms, roads, and harvest time : the jury system and attitudes toward jury service in Nova Scotia -- The jury system and attitudes toward jury service in Upper Canada -- "The bean box" : reformers and the politicization of the jury system in Nova Scotia -- Reformers, rebellion, and the jury system of Upper Canada -- Responsible government, the magistrates' affair, and the breakdown of the Nova Scotia jury system -- Responsible government and the 1850 Upper Canada Jury Act -- "We have now no fears of star chamber justice" : the decline of the jury in Nova Scotia -- "The day has gone by for the worship of legal idols" : the decline of the jury in Ontario -- Conclusion.
Storms, roads, and harvest time : the jury system and attitudes toward jury service in Nova Scotia -- The jury system and attitudes toward jury service in Upper Canada -- "The bean box" : reformers and the politicization of the jury system in Nova Scotia -- Reformers, rebellion, and the jury system of Upper Canada -- Responsible government, the magistrates' affair, and the breakdown of the Nova Scotia jury system -- Responsible government and the 1850 Upper Canada Jury Act -- "We have now no fears of star chamber justice" : the decline of the jury in Nova Scotia -- "The day has gone by for the worship of legal idols" : the decline of the jury in Ontario -- Conclusion.
Biblio Notes
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Number of Copies
1
