Juries in England and Wales - Civil Juries

Civil Juries

All common law civil cases were tried by jury up to the introduction of juryless trials in the new County Courts in 1846. The perceived success of this system, together with increasing recognition of the integrity of judges and the professionalisation of legal institutions, meant that, when the Common Law Procedure Act 1854 gave litigants in the Queen's Bench the option of trial by judge alone, there was a steady uptake. Over the next eighty years, the use of juries in civil trials steadily declined.

In 1933 the Administration of Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1933, s.6 guaranteed the right of jury trial in the Queen's Bench division for:

— "... but, save as aforesaid, any action to be tried in that Division may, in the discretion of the court or a judge, be ordered to be tried either with or without a jury." The Act brought a de facto end to civil jury trials in England and Wales save for the causes where the right was guaranteed.

In Ward v. James (1966), Lord Denning, delivering the judgment of the Court of Appeal, held that personal injury cases were unsuitable for jury trials owing to the technical expertise and experience needed in assessing damages. In Singh v. London Underground Ltd (1990), a litigant sought a jury trial on a case arising from the King's Cross fire but was refused owing to the technical nature of the case. As of 1998, less than 1% of civil trials in England and Wales were jury trials and these were principally defamation cases.

Section 69 of the Senior Courts Act 1981, which replaced s. 6 of the 1933 Act in respect of High Court trials, provides that trial shall be by jury on the application of a party where the court is satisfied that there is in issue:

• a claim of fraud against the party; or
• a claim in respect of libel, slander, malicious prosecution or false imprisonment

unless the court is of the opinion that the trial requires any prolonged examination of documents or accounts or any scientific or local investigation which cannot conveniently be made with a jury.