“A Delusion, a Mockery, and a Snare”: Array Challenges and Jury Selection in England and Ireland, 1800-1850

Abstract

In the historiography of the criminal trial, the law regarding array challenges has received little attention. A challenge to the array involved a party objecting to the composition of the panel of potential jurors from which the trial jury would be selected. Array challenges often arose when the defendant believed that the sheriff, or other official with responsibility to select the jury, had packed the jury pool with individuals who would find the accused guilty. This article first briefly outlines jury selection procedures in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in England and Ireland, then explores the use of challenges to the array, and the reasons why this safeguard was, or was not, employed successfully. In a series of cases the judiciary ensured that the array challenge was a weak instrument for preventing packed juries. The high rates of acquittals in Irish criminal trials led officials to pack juries, especially in high profile, politically-charged cases. Defendants resisted by launching array challenges, particularly in Ireland where Roman Catholic defendants faced jury panels assembled predominantly of Protestants. For its part, the judiciary was concerned that allowing defendants to employ array challenges would stall proceedings. In addition to this efficiency concern, judges applied a remarkably inflexible approach to the law when asked to apply challenging rules to situations in which jury selection irregularities were not caused by the sheriff, but by other officials given responsibilities in the jury selection process.