Lecture 15 – Common law and the jury system

INTRODUCTION
- The legal system of a country (system of justice) reflects the history and culture of the
country.
- Some broad philosophical questions:
 Is it preferable for a dozen of guilty people to go free rather than to punish one
innocent person unjustly?
 Is it necessary to punish innocent people so that no guilty person escapes justices?
 Is a person guilty until he is proven innocent? / Is he innocent until he is proven
guilty?
- In the United States:
 Let a dozen guilty people go free rather than to punish one innocent person unjustly
 An accused person is innocent until proven guilty
1. U.S common law and how it differs from civil laws in other countries
- The U.S system of justice is not unique
- A system brought over by the first settlers from England: 2 basic legal systems in Europe:
 Common law in Great Britain
 Civil law in other European countries
- Civil law:
 Depends on a written code of laws
 The judge consults this code to decide whether the defendant is innocent or guilty
 If guilty, what sentence the defendant will be given
- Common law:
 Generally practiced in English – speaking countries including the United States
 Developed case by case
 Besides considering written law, the judge also considers the precedent set by other
court decisions
o The judge looks at what other judges have decided in similar cases in the past
 It is not the judge who brings a verdict but the jury
2. The jury system
- A group of 6 – 12 ordinary citizens
- The U.S Constitution guarantees the right to trial by jury
- The jury hears testimony in either civil or criminal trials and reaches a verdict
 Civil trial Criminal trial
- Deals with disputes between private - The government prosecutes those accused
parties (contracts or property rights) of a crime
- The jury decides which side is right and - The jury decides guilt or innocence
how much money should be paid in
damages
- The defendant must testify - The defendant does not have to testify
 The government’s job to show guilt
 Not the defendant’s job to prove
innocent
- The jury decides which side has presented - Believe the person guilty “beyond a
more evidences to support its case reasonable doubt”
- Lower degree of proof than “reasonable - The government must present a high
doubt” degree of proof
 A person’s liberty and life can be
taken away if he/ she is convicted
- The judge at a trial and the jury have very different responsibilities:
 The judge:
o See that the trial is conducted according to the law
o Excluding irrelevant remarks and questions, deciding what kind of evidence is
admissible
 The jury decide:
o Whether they believe the testimony they hear
o Whether the evidence presented to them is valid
- The trial of O. J. Simpson – American former football star:
 Found innocent in 1995 by the jury at his criminal trial
 A year later, he was back in court
 The jury awarded millions of dollars in compensatory and punitive damages to these
families
- Most people favor the jury system
- Criticism:
 Juries make decisions based on emotion rather than facts
 Jurors may not have the education or background to understand some complex legal
issues
  If the required number of jurors cannot agree on a decision (a hung jury), the law
requires a new trial with a new jury
3. Remarks about plea bargaining
- Only 20% of legal cases actually reach the courts
- In civil cases: 2 sides settle their dispute out of court with the aid of their lawyers
- In criminal cases: a person accused of a particular crime will plea bargain
- The accused pleads guilty to a lesser crime
- It is allowed to happen because:
 There is a large number of civil and criminal cases
 The courts would be crowded if all the cases went to trial
 If accused person agrees to plead guilty  no trial in court
 Save the state time and money
- The accused person who plea – bargains is allowed to do so only if he/ she also corporates
with the prosecutor in bringing other criminals to justice
- If he/ she went to trial and were found guilty  the sentence might be less severe