Twelve Good Men and True: The Criminal Trial Jury in England, 1200-1800

Published by Princeton University Press 1988

Twelve Good Men and True

The Criminal Trial Jury in England, 1200-1800

Edited by: J. S. Cockburn and Thomas A. Green

Volume 881 in the series Princeton Legacy Library

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400859207

Overview
Contents

About this book

Twelve Good Men and True brings together some of the most ambitious and innovative work yet undertaken on the history of an English legal institution. These eleven essays examine the composition of the criminal trial jury in England, the behavior of those who sat as jurors, and popular and official attitudes toward the institution of jury trial from its almost accidental emergence in the early thirteenth century until 1800. The essays have important implications for three problems central to the history of criminal justice administration in England: the way in which the medieval jury was informed and reached its verdict; the degree and form of independence enjoyed by juries during the early modern period when the powers of the bench were very great; and the role of the eighteenth-century trial jury, which, although clearly independent, was, by virtue of the status and experience of its members, arguably a mere extension of the bench.

This extensive collection marks the first occasion on which scholars working in several different time periods have focused their attention on the history of a single legal institution. Written by J. M. Beattie, J. S. Cockburn, Thomas A. Green, Roger D. Groot, Douglas Hay, P.J.R. King, P. G. Lawson, Bernard William McLane, J. B. Post, Edward Powell, and Stephen K. Roberts, the essays utilize sophisticated techniques to establish from a variety of manuscript sources the wealth, status, and administrative experience of jurors.

Originally published in 1988.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

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Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
List of Illustrations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
List of Tables Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	viii
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xiii
Abbreviations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xvii
One. The Early-Thirteenth-Century Criminal Jury Roger D. Groot Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Two. Juror Attitudes toward Local Disorder: The Evidence of the 1328 Lincolnshire Trailbaston Proceedings Bernard William McLane Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	36
Three. Jury Lists and Juries in the Late Fourteenth Century J. B. Post Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	65
Four. Jury Trial at Gaol Delivery in the Late Middle Ages: The Midland Circuit, 1400-1429 Edward Powell Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	78
Five. Lawless Juries? The Composition and Behavior of Hertfordshire Juries, 1573-1624 P. G. Lawson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	117
Six. Twelve Silly Men? The Trial fury at Assizes, 1560-1670 J. S. Cockbum Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	158
Seven. Juries and the Middling Sort: Recruitment and Performance at Devon Quarter Sessions, 1649-1670 Stephen K. Roberts Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	182
Eight. London Juries in the 1690s J. M. Beattie Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	214
Nine. "Illiterate Plebeians, Easily Misled": Jury Composition, Experience, and Behavior in Essex, 1735-1815 P.J.R. King Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	254
Ten. The Class Composition of the Palladium of Liberty: Trial furors in the Eighteenth Century Douglas Hay Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	305
Eleven. A Retrospective on the Criminal Trial Jury, 1200-1800 Thomas A. Green Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	358
Notes on Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	401
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	403

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