Challenge to Jury in United Kingdom

Definition of Challenge To Jury

In accordance with the work A Dictionary of Law, this is a description of Challenge To Jury : A procedure by which the parties may object to the composition of a jury before it is sworn. Before the Criminal Justice Act 1988 came into force a challenge could be peremptory (i.e. with no reason for the challenge being given) or for cause. Peremptory challenges were abolished by the Criminal Justice Act 1988, but the prosecution can ask that a juror “stand by”, in which case he rejoins the jury panel and may be challenged for cause when the rest of the panel has been gone through. Either party may challenge for cause. This may be to the array, in which the whole panel is challenged by alleging some irregularity in the summoning of the jury (e.g. bias or partiality on the part of the jury summoning officer): or to the polls, in which individual jurors may be challenged. Any challenge to jurors for cause is tried by the judge before whom the accused is to be tried.