Study On The Jury System

The Jury System refers to a kind of important judicial and trial system, which the ordinary citizen is allowed to participate in the judgment of cases, and to exercise judicial power with the professional judge together. After nearly a thousand years development, this ancient legal system comes into two different forms under the influences of varies legal and culture principals in different times and different countries. One is jury system; the other is the mixed jury system.Jury system was originated from England, developed in America, and altered in France and Germany. From its development history and social function, jury system possesses many particular values on protecting human rights, developing judicial democracy, and maintaining the justice which cannot be replaced by other judicial system. But, its problems about lower judicial efficiency, waste judicial resources cannot be ignored either. For a long time, because of less emphasis on legislation, morbidity of the related system, affections of cultural tradition, and loss of value thoughts, the jury system in our country only existed in name, and hadn't exerted its expected functions. This problem leads to a heated discussion in legal profession, and develops three opinions: one is abolishment, the second is preservation, and the third is reform and perfection. In recent years, the public democracy passion and the democracy participating consciousness are the daily on the increase. People's jury system which is a litigant system that shows democracy attracted more attention of the whole society. Especially under the background, a series of regulations and documents issued by legislature make the people's jury system to be operative in the judicatory practice. But considering the society environment, we need more public basis to run the system effectively in recent time. Considered from the angles of the legislation, its regulations are not perfect. By this reason, reform and perfect the People's jury system is imperative.This article tries to explore the jury system applicability abroad, compare the differences between the two forms of the jury system; analyze the values on it, discuss the chances and challenges before it, and propose some conceptions about how to reform and perfect the People's jury system, and hope to be useful to reform and perfect the judicatory system of China.This article includes five parts beside introduction and conclusion.The first part compares and studies jury system abroad. It mainly introduces the jury systems of common laws system represented by England and USA, the mixed jury system of the civil laws system represented by France and Germany and the recent development in Russia and Japan. Compare the differences between the two jury systems.The second part mainly analyzes the particular values in the jury system, especially on protecting human rights, developing judicial democracy, and maintaining the justice and so on.The third part through reconsidering the defects in the jury system, the chances and challenges before it, explains that there is necessary and reasonable to preserve the jury system.The fourth part mainly introduces the evolution and present situation of People's jury system, and analyzes the existing problems of it.The fifth part brings forward that the new opinions to perfect People's jury system. Put forward that constitutional status of People's jury system should be established by law, and some other conceptions on reforming and perfecting the People's jury system.