Number of Jurors
| Court | At start of trial | Minimum number | Majorities allowed | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crown Court | 12 | 9 | 11-1, 10-2, 10-1, 9-1 | Juries Act 1974, s.17 |
| High Court | 12 | 9 | 11-1, 10-2, 10-1, 9-1 | Juries Act 1974, s.17 |
| County Court | 8 | 7 | 7-1 | County Courts Act 1984, s.66; Juries Act 1974, s.17(2) |
| Coroner's Court | between 7 and 11 | — | Minority no more than 2 | Coroners Act 1988, s.8(2)(a), s.12 |
In the event of a juror being discharged for any reason, the trial can continue so long as the minimum number of jurors remain. The judge should press the jury for a unanimous verdict and not, in any event, suggest that a majority is acceptable until after 2 hours and 10 minutes. This was originally 2 hours but it was extended to allow time for the jury to settle after retiring. Unanimous verdicts were required until the Criminal Justice Act 1967.
Read more about this topic: Juries In England And Wales
Famous quotes containing the words number of and/or number:
“The rising power of the United States in world affairs ... requires, not a more compliant press, but a relentless barrage of facts and criticism.... Our job in this age, as I see it, is not to serve as cheerleaders for our side in the present world struggle but to help the largest possible number of people to see the realities of the changing and convulsive world in which American policy must operate.”
—James Reston (b. 1909)
“Hence, a generative grammar must be a system of rules that can iterate to generate an indefinitely large number of structures. This system of rules can be analyzed into the three major components of a generative grammar: the syntactic, phonological, and semantic components.”
—Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)