ABSTRACT
The verdict of the jury is the voice of the people and its methodology that of participatory democracy. Indeed, the jury offers a model of democratic decision making that holds the potential for reviving democracy within society and empowering the people on a wide range of issues of public concern. This chapter focuses on the democratic character of the legal jury and how it has developed and evolved over time. A model of decision-making closer to that envisaged by democratic theory can be found on the jury. The grant of the electoral franchise, exercised in periodic elections, constitutes a pale form of democracy. Jury deliberations present a form of participatory democracy that is somewhat anachronistic in the modern nation-state. The value of a democratically composed jury is particularly important as in those areas where the jury has been entrusted with setting the legal standard to be applied.
