Grand Jury
group · 2 works · 2 mentions · 2 anchored passages
a body of neighbours · grand inquest · grand juries · grand jury
in the texts
An Essay on the Trial by Jury
Body of grand jurors sworn to present the truth according to their own discretion.
The grand inquest are bound to observe alike strictly every part of their oath, and to use all just and proper ways which may enable them to perform it;
What is here said so plainly and forcibly of the oath and obligations of grand juries, is equally applicable to the oath and obligations of petit juries.
This form of oath is doubtless quite ancient, for the essay says “our ancestors appointed” it.
Magna Carta: A Commentary on the Great Charter of King John
The body of neighbours charged under Henry II's reforms with indicting suspected criminals, described as the predecessor of the later Grand Jury.
that is, the duty of indicting suspected criminals before the King’s Justices was no longer left to private initiative, but was laid on a body of neighbours—the predecessors of the Grand Jury of later days.