History of Jury Dates Back to Days of Kings

Both functions of the California grand jury--criminal and civil--share a heritage that dates from the days of the Anglo-Saxon and Frankish kings.

Even before the Norman conquest of England in 1066, Anglo-Saxon law referred to a court of 12 leading men who shall “come forward and swear on holy things . . . that they will neither accuse any innocent man nor spare any guilty one. . . .” And Frankish kings, in an effort to collect revenue and enforce other royal prerogatives, empowered officers of the court to conduct interrogations under oath.

In 1166, King Henry II of England institutionalized the practice of using a panel of citizens to present to the courts the names of villagers suspected of crimes. The rule required that 12 “of the more lawful men” convene to identify “whether in their hundred (a subdivision of the county) . . . there is any man accused or publicly known as a robber or murderer or thief.”

Practice Expanded

By the end of the 13th Century, juries in England were also required to identify those who had failed in their duty to keep in good repair bridges and highways and to inquire into the defects of jails, a practice that expanded to many governmental fields.

Although the practice later was largely abandoned in England, it was revived when grand juries were imported to the American colonies. Besides accusing suspected criminals, colonial grand juries “inspected and reported on the condition of public roads, the performance of public officials and the expenditure of public funds,” authors Marvin E. Frankel and Gary P. Naftalis wrote in a 1975 study.

The institution was so respected that the drafters of the Bill of Rights included a requirement that “No person shall be held to answer (before a federal court) for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury.”

Sole Authority

In 1849, the framers of California’s first Constitution gave grand juries sole authority to charge citizens with criminal offenses. Thirty years later, prosecutors were allowed to charge criminals directly, but grand juries retained the authority to hear criminal cases and vote indictments.

The first mention of what has come to be known as the grand jury’s “watchdog” function came in 1880. A new law provided that “it shall be the duty of the grand jury annually to make a careful and complete examination of the books, records and accounts of all the officers of the county, and especially those pertaining to the revenue, and report thereon. . . .”

The grand jury’s civil authority was expanded 49 years later, when the Legislature added city boards of education to the grand jury’s purview. Juries were also ordered to inquire into the salaries of public officials, the abolition or creation of county offices and the method employed by officials for discharging their responsibilities.

In the 1950s, and again in the ‘70s, while grand juries in other states were getting out of the watchdog business, the civil authority of California panels was further extended to look into the affairs of special legislative districts and so-called “joint powers” agencies, as well as those of incorporated cities.