A History of the Mahrattas v2.c59.45

v2.c59.45

¹ [The system of trial by jury was eventually introduced by the Code of Criminal Procedure, the first edition of which was promulgated in 1861, in which year the old Supreme Courts and *Adālats* of the Company were replaced by Chartered High Courts. The Indian Penal Code had been enacted in 1860. In the country districts it is not always possible, even now, to empanel an efficient jury; and trials before Sessions Courts are therefore conducted with the aid of assessors—who merely assist but do not bind the judge by their opinions—or of jurors. Where juries are used, the Code directs the Sessions Judge, if he considers that a jury has returned a manifestly wrong verdict, to submit the case to the High Court, which is empowered to set aside or modify the finding. An Indian jury consists of nine persons in High Court trials, and in other trials of such uneven number up to nine as may be prescribed by the Local Government. (*I.G.*, iv. 148–9.) A case has occurred in recent years in which the system of trial by jury has had to be temporarily suspended in a District, in consequence of an obstinate series of flagrantly wrong verdicts.]