Juries and the Transformation of Criminal Justice in France in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (Studies in Legal History)

James Donovan takes a comprehensive approach to the history of the jury in modern France by investigating the legal, political, sociocultural, and intellectual aspects of jury trial from the Revolution through the twentieth century. He demonstrates that these juries, through their decisions, helped shape reform of the nation's criminal justice system.&9;&9;From their introduction in 1791 as an expression of the sovereignty of the people through the early 1900s, argues Donovan, juries often acted against the wishes of the political and judicial authorities, despite repeated governmental attempts to manipulate their composition. High acquittal rates for both political and nonpolitical crimes were in part due to juror resistance to the harsh and rigid punishments imposed by the Napoleonic Penal Code, Donovan explains. &9;&9;&9; James Donovan takes a comprehensive approach to the history of the jury in modern France by investigating the legal, political, sociocultural, and intellectual aspects of jury trial from the Revolution through the twentieth century. He demonstrates that these juries, through their decisions, helped shape reform of the nation's criminal justice system.From their introduction in 1791 as an expression of the sovereignty of the people through the early 1900s, argues Donovan, juries often acted against the wishes of the political and judicial authorities, despite repeated governmental attempts to manipulate their composition. High acquittal rates for both political and nonpolitical crimes were in part due to juror resistance to the harsh and rigid punishments imposed by the Napoleonic Penal Code, Donovan explains. In response, legislators gradually enacted laws to lower penalties for certain crimes and to give jurors legal means to offer nuanced verdicts and to ameliorate punishments. Faced with persistently high acquittal rates, however, governments eventually took powers away from juries by withdrawing many cases from their purview and ultimately destroying the panels'independence in 1941.

James Donovan takes a comprehensive approach to the history of the jury in modern France by investigating the legal, political, sociocultural, and intellectual aspects of jury trial from the Revolution through the twentieth century. He demonstrates that these juries, through their decisions, helped shape reform of the nation's criminal justice system.

From their introduction in 1791 as an expression of the sovereignty of the people through the early 1900s, argues Donovan, juries often acted against the wishes of the political and judicial authorities, despite repeated governmental attempts to manipulate their composition. High acquittal rates for both political and nonpolitical crimes were in part due to juror resistance to the harsh and rigid punishments imposed by the Napoleonic Penal Code, Donovan explains.

Contents 6 Acknowledgments 10 Introduction 12 Chapter One: THE "PALLADIUM OF LIBERTY": Juries, the Revolution, and Napoleon, 1791–1814 34 Chapter Two: THE "JURYS CENSITAIRES," 1815–1848 60 Chapter Three: THE GREAT TURNING POINT: The Juries of the Second Republic and Second Empire, 1848–1870 98 Chapter Four: THE JURIES OF THE REPUBLIC, 1870–1914 122 Chapter Five: THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE JURIES, CIRCA 1890–1914 152 Chapter Six: THE TRIUMPH OF EXPERTS OVER JURORS: Justice in France since World War I 169 Conclusion 188 Notes 196 Bibliography 248 Index 258 A 258 B 258 C 259 D 262 E 262 F 263 G 263 H 264 I 264 J 264 K 267 L 267 M 267 N 268 O 268 P 268 R 270 S 271 T 271 U 272 V 272 W 272 Y 273 Z 273 9780807833636 Donovan takes a comprehensive approach to the history of the jury in modern France by investigating the legal, political, sociocultural, and intellectual aspects of jury trial from the Revolution through the 20th century. Challenging the contention of modern historians that the generally bourgeois jurors of 19th-century France usually rendered verdicts in keeping with class justice, Donovan demonstrates that these juries, through their decisions, helped shape reform of the nation's criminal justice system Taking an approach to the history of the jury in modern France by investigating the legal, political, sociocultural, and intellectual aspects of jury trial from the Revolution through the twentieth century, this title demonstrates that these juries, through their decisions, helped shape reform of the nation's criminal justice system.