The practice and culture of practicing law
Here is more on that federal criminal trial described in my September 28, 2020 Post: How do we Resume Jury Trials in Vermont It’s based on remarks made by Chief United States District Judge Geoffrey Crawford today at a Federal Read More …
We have no doubt, the ‘right of trial by jury’ spoken of in the constitution, and which it is said “ought to be held sacred,” means a jury as at common law, which consists of twelve men, and that wherever a constitution guaranties ‘the right of trial by jury,’ it is not competent for a legislature to reduce that number to six, or any less number than twelve; for the very theory of a trial by jury requires the unanimous consent of twelve men to the verdict.
Lincoln v. Smith, 27 Vt. 328, 358-9 (1855) (emphasis added).
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