Question

Mention functions performed by different groups of persons, in order, to give a fair trial?

Answer 1

A trial which is observed by trial judge or by jury without being partial is a fair trial. Various rights associated with a fair trial are explicitly proclaimed in Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and Article 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights, as well as numerous other constitutions and declarations throughout the world. There is no binding international law that defines what is not a fair trial; for example, the right to a jury trial and other important procedures vary from nation to nation.

Answer 2

Under Article 6 of the ECHR, the right to a fair trial implies that accused and public must be able to understand the verdict. Trials decided by jury, as they do not provide reasons for their decision, therefore do not allow for this. In Taxquet v Belgium a violation of article 6(1) was found. The court also implied a right to a reasoned verdict, irrespective of whether that was given by a judge or a jury.

Under ECHR case law, jury decisions can also be problematic in circumstances where juries draw adverse inferences from trial judges' directions in contravention of Article 6(3) (b) and (c).

EU member states that do not have a jury system or any other form of lay adjudication in criminal matters or have abolished it include: Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Romania. In these countries, criminal courts are composed exclusively of judges.

EU member states with a collaborative jury system which comprises a combination of jurors and judge include Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Norway (in most cases), Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Sweden. The collaborative system, which can also be employed alongside the traditional jury model, is characterised by the professional judges and the jurors collectively determining all questions of law and fact, the issue of guilt and the sentence.

Within the EU, the traditional jury system exists within Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Malta, Norway (only in serious appeal cases), Spain and the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland).

With the expansion of the EU, It is seen as problematic that juries are used, given that their use cannot ensure all the guarantees set out under Article 6, particularly in the ever-expanding landscape and corpus of European law.