by Tamara Howell

Created on: December 26, 2008

Oh my God! I got called to Jury Duty!

Going through the mail, you see an official-looking envelope. Curious, you open it, and find out that you've just been called for jury duty. Wait a minute! Why did you get this? What is the importance of a jury? Who decides how people get called for duty, and how do you become a juror? Where did the jury system originate?

A million questions are probably running through your head after you opened that letter, and you're wondering just what you've gotten yourself into. In order to really understand what jury duty is you need to understand where it got started, and how it became an important part of the American legal process. We'll also talk about the different types of juries, the selection process, and some of the important rules surrounding jury selection and the jury process.

Why is the jury system important? Believe it or not, the answer to this question can be found in the experience of the English people almost 800 years ago. The British people were tired of being continually dominated by tyrant kings who used their power to demand the property, or death, or enslavement of people on a whim.

The priest who led the Church of England got together with many English nobles. They decided that people ought to have certain rights, including the right to their property and their freedom. They demanded that King John Lackland sign a document establishing these rights, which prevented kings from taking people's land, ordering their death, or enslaving them.

This document was known as the Magna Carta, which means Great Charter. The Magna
Carta is important for several reasons. First, it was used as the foundation for the Declaration of Independence
and the Constitution of the United States.

It also introduced a concept known as due process, which today guarantees every American citizen who stands trial the right to a jury of peers. What does a jury of your peers mean? This definition of peers meant that anyone who was free and male might be called for jury service. (You might be surprised to learn when were women allowed on a jury, though!

King John's son, Henry III, introduced the first type of jury that involved witnesses. This was known as the first petit jury. What is a petit juror
? This is a citizen who is selected to serve on a trial jury.

What is the job of the petit jury? This group of people decides what facts are true in a trial. A civil jury is composed of six to eight people, depending on the state in which the court is located.

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next Page >>