Legal Definitions - judicum subsortitio

The term judicum subsortitio refers to an ancient Roman legal practice for selecting additional jurors when the initial pool proved insufficient. This process involved randomly drawing names from a list of eligible citizens to fill any remaining jury positions, typically after parties in a trial had exercised their right to challenge and remove certain prospective jurors.

Here are some examples illustrating this concept:

• Imagine a high-profile criminal trial in ancient Rome where both the accuser and the accused were granted a specific number of challenges to remove individuals they believed would not be impartial. After several rounds of these challenges, the original panel of potential jurors was significantly depleted, leaving fewer individuals than required to form a complete jury. To ensure the trial could proceed with the legally mandated number of jurors, the presiding magistrate would initiate the judicum subsortitio, having a clerk randomly draw additional names from a larger, pre-approved list of citizens until all jury seats were filled. This ensured that the supplementary jurors were chosen by chance, maintaining fairness.

• Consider a complex civil dispute in Roman times involving a wealthy merchant and a prominent landowner. Due to the intricate nature of the case and the social connections of the parties, many initial jurors were excused because of potential conflicts of interest or personal biases. As the number of available jurors dwindled below the required minimum, the court would resort to judicum subsortitio. Names of other qualified citizens, who had been vetted for eligibility but not initially called, would be placed into an urn, and a designated official would draw out the necessary number of names to complete the jury. This random selection prevented any perception of manipulation in choosing the final jurors.

• In a historical reenactment of a Roman court proceeding, a scenario is set up where a jury needs to be formed for a property dispute. The initial group of 20 potential jurors is presented, but after the "prosecution" and "defense" each use their allotted three peremptory challenges, and two more jurors are excused for hardship, only 12 jurors remain when 15 are required. To complete the jury, the "judge" declares that they must perform a judicum subsortitio. From a separate container holding the names of 10 additional, pre-screened citizens, three names are randomly drawn to bring the jury to its full complement. This demonstrates the historical method of supplementing a jury when the initial selection process falls short.