Law Weblog

Juries under threat, again.

Lord Goldsmith, the Attorney General announced that juries might no longer be used from 1st January 2006 in serious or complicated fraud cases.
A judge would sit alone in probably 15 and 20 such cases a year where the judge considers that the trial is too “burdensome” for a jury. Such a trial would also need the approval of the Lord Chief Justice.
The Criminal Justice Act 2003 s43 permits non-jury fraud trials but the government agreed it would not be implemented without further approval from both Houses, it is expected that there will significant opposition.