Legal Definitions - malveis procurors

Malveis procurors

This is a historical legal term that refers to individuals who improperly influenced the selection of a jury to ensure a specific outcome in a trial. Essentially, malveis procurors were people who engaged in "jury packing"—the manipulation of the jury selection process to favor one side in a legal dispute, often by nominating biased individuals or excluding impartial ones.

Here are some examples of how malveis procurors might have operated historically:

• Imagine a powerful landowner in 15th-century England involved in a property dispute with a neighboring baron. To guarantee a favorable verdict, the landowner might have secretly instructed his local sheriff or bailiff (who was responsible for summoning potential jurors) to only include individuals on the jury list who were tenants on his estate or who owed him favors. These hand-picked jurors would be more likely to side with the landowner, thus illustrating the actions of malveis procurors manipulating the jury selection for a predetermined outcome.

• Consider a politically charged trial in a 17th-century English town where a prominent citizen was accused of sedition against the local government. A group of officials, acting as malveis procurors, might have conspired to ensure the conviction. They could have done this by influencing the court clerk to omit the names of known sympathizers of the accused from the jury pool, or by adding individuals known for their strong loyalty to the current administration. This deliberate manipulation of the jury's composition to achieve a specific verdict exemplifies the role of malveis procurors.

• In a 16th-century commercial lawsuit concerning a large debt, a wealthy merchant might have sought to avoid payment by ensuring a sympathetic jury. He could have employed an intermediary, acting as a malveis procuror, to discreetly approach the officials responsible for compiling the jury list. This intermediary might have offered inducements or exerted pressure to ensure that the final jury panel consisted primarily of other merchants or individuals who had business dealings with the accused merchant, thereby increasing the likelihood of a verdict in his favor.