As former colonists of Great Britain, the Founding Fathers of the United States adopted much of the legal system of Great Britain. We have a “common law”, or law made by courts 1 a monarch or other central governmental 2 like a legislature. The jury, a 3 of ordinary citizens chosen to decide a case, is an 4 part of our common-law system.
Use of juries to decide cases is a 5 feature of the American legal system. Few other countries in the world use juries as we do in the United States. 6 the centuries, many people have believed that juries in most cases reach a fairer and more just result 7 would be obtained using a judge 8 , as many countries do. 9 a jury decides cases after “ 10 ”, or discussions among a group of people, the jury’s decision is likely to have the 11 from many different people from different backgrounds, who must as a group decide what is right.
Juries are used in both civil cases, which decide 12 among 13 citizens, and criminal cases, which decide cases brought by the government 14 that individuals have committed crimes. Juries are selected from the U.S. citizens and 15 . Jurors, consisting of 16 numbers, are called for each case requiring a jury.
The judge 17 to the case 18 the selection of jurors to serve as the jury for that case. In some states, 19 jurors are questioned by the judge; in others, they are questioned by the lawyers representing the 20 under rules dictated by state law.
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