Before you could be called up for jury duty to decide the guilt
or innocence of an accused, the fate of the person before the court
was usually decided by a priest in the belief that God would
intervene on behalf of the innocent.
Court trials before juries existed
In the past there was no presentation of evidence. Confessions
could be extracted by torture. Women accused of witchcraft were
thrown into lakes. If they floated, they were decreed to be witches
and executed. If they sank, they were innocent.
The first record of jury decisions came shortly after the
Normans invaded England in 1066, and in 1215 the phrase "by
the lawful judgement of his peers" was written in the Magna
Carta. But these juries were composed of witnesses who passed
judgement based on what they themselves knew.
