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

About the Book

Juries and the Transformation of Criminal Justice in France in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

"A comprehensive study of juries on the administration of criminal punishments and on the transformation of penal law in France from 1791 to 1941. . . . Highly recommended." -- CHOICE

"A useful overview of general ideological trends related to jury trials, highlighted by comparisons with developments in the English and American judicial systems." -- Law and History Review

"Donovan has written a fine study illuminating the relationship between criminal procedure, politics and popular opinion." -- European History Quarterly

"One of the many merits of Donovan's erudite and incisive book is to trace the many twists and turns of the experiment and to explain why it has been so troubled. . . . An authoritative and useful book." -- Journal of Interdisciplinary History