Grand Juries

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the development of grand juries, the present use of such panels, and the strengths and weaknesses of the system. Traces the history of the development since 1166, when Henry II, the King of England, employed a body of locals as his investigative arm.

From the Paper:

"For more than five centuries, the grand jury remained an arm of the king. That began to change in 1681, after Charles II had restored the monarchy in England. Charles also attempted to restore Catholicism as the nation's religion, which brought a firestorm of protest from the Earl of Shaftesbury and Stephen Colledge. The King tried to use the grand jury as a public forum for his prosecution of the two men, but the grand jurors refused. They preferred to hear testimony in private, free from the pressures the King could exert in an open forum. This marked the first assertion of independence by a grand jury. After that, the panels often became the protector of the individual against the tyranny of the crown (Frankel and Naftalis, p. 9)."

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