William Feilden Craies

“ The modes of trial have altered with legal development in English as in Roman law (see Action) . Many forms of trial, notably those by ordeal, by wager of battle or of law (see Ordeal and Wager) , and by grand assize, have become obsolete, and new forms have been created by legislation in order to meet altered circumstances of society. Up to a very recent date the tendency of the Roman and English systems was in opposite directions. In the former and in systems founded on it, such as the Scottish and French, trial by the judge became the rule, in the latter trial by judge and jury. ”

“ In the High Court of Justice in England and Ireland several modes of trial are now used:
1. Trial by judge with a jury used in the king’s bench division and in probate and matrimonial cases. There is a right to have a jury as a matter of course in actions of defamation, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, seduction and breach of promise of marriage. In other cases, subject to exceptions to be noted, a jury can be obtained on the application of either party. ”

“ In the county court the ordi:iary mode of trial is by the judge alone, but a jury of eight is allowed in certain cases on application, and in the admiralty jurisdiction marine assessors can be called in. In other local civil courts the trial is often by jury, as in the mayor’s court of London, sometimes without, as in the vice-chancellor’s court of the university of Oxford. In all civil cases the parties can by a proper submission have a trial before an arbitrator selected by or for them. As regards criminal cases the right to trial by due process of law before condemnation is given by art. ”