0 in the US, a group of people who decide if a person who has been charged with a crime should be given a trial in a law court
1 law a group of people who decide whether a person who has been accused of a crime should be given a trial in court or should be released
2 a group of people who decide if there is enough information to believe that a crime has been committed to begin a trial:
In the case of the assize grand jury the study of the period before 1714 is as yet impossible, due to lack of sources.
However, land alone could not guarantee a man a grand jury seat.
These seem to have included grand jury membership.
Yet being a magistrate did not guarantee a man a place on a grand jury, nor were grand juries composed wholly of magistrates.
Ultimately, gaining a grand jury seat depended on being selected for service by the high sheriff.
The evidence also suggests that a man's religion and his politics played some part in defining his suitability for grand jury service.
Rather, service on the grand jury reached some way down the social scale, and could be undertaken by men from outside the established church.
Holding an important agency seems to have qualified a man for grand jury service from a much earlier date, however.
