Simple English definitions for legal terms
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Definition: When a group of people called a jury cannot agree on a decision in a trial, they are said to be hung. This means they are unable to reach a verdict. There are different types of juries, such as a grand jury that investigates crimes and a petit jury that decides the outcome of a specific case. Other types of juries include advisory, blue-ribbon, common, coroner's, death-qualified, fair and impartial, foreign, good, inquest, jury de medietate linguae, jury of indictment, jury of inquest, jury of matrons, jury of the vicinage, life-qualified, and mixed juries.
hang, verb. When a jury is unable to reach a verdict after deliberating for a long time. For example, "The jury was hung after 12 hours of continuous deliberation."
jury, noun. A group of people selected by law to decide questions of fact and return a verdict in a case. For example, "The jury found the defendant guilty of the crime."
Examples:
These examples illustrate the different types of juries that can be involved in legal proceedings. A hung jury is one that cannot reach a verdict, while a fair and impartial jury is one that has no opinion about the case at the start of the trial. A coroner's jury is summoned to investigate the cause of death.