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A grand jury is a legal body that is empowered to conduct official proceedings to investigate potential criminal conduct and to determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may compel the production of documents and may compel the sworn testimony of witnesses to appear before it. A grand jury is separate from the courts, which do not preside over its functioning.〔(112 S.Ct. 1735 504 U.S. 36 118 L.Ed.2d 352 UNITED STATES, Petitioner v. John H. WILLIAMS, Jr. No. 90-1972. Argued Jan. 22, 1992. Decided May 4, 1992 )〕 The United States and Liberia are the only countries that retain grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing. Grand juries perform both accusatory and investigatory functions. The investigatory functions of the grand jury include obtaining and reviewing documents and other evidence and hearing the sworn testimony of witnesses that appear before it. The grand jury's accusatory function is to determine whether or not there is probable cause to believe that one or more persons committed a certain offence within the venue of the district court. A grand jury in the United States is usually composed of 16 to 24 citizens, though in Virginia it is composed of lesser numbers for regular or special grand juries. In Ireland, they also functioned as local government authorities. In Japan the Law of July 12, 1948 created the ''Kensatsu Shinsakai'' (Prosecutorial Review Commission, or PRC, system), much like a grand jury. A grand jury is so named because traditionally it has a greater number of jurors than a trial jury, called a petty jury (from the French word ''petit'' meaning "small"). ==Origins== The first instance of a grand jury can be traced back to the Assize of Clarendon in 1166, an Act of Henry II of England.〔(Medieval Sourcebook: Assize of Clarendon 1166 )〕 Henry's chief impact on the development of the English monarchy was to increase the jurisdiction of the royal courts at the expense of the feudal courts. Itinerant justices on regular circuits were sent out once each year to enforce the "King's Peace". To make this system of royal criminal justice more effective, Henry employed the method of inquest used by William the Conqueror in the Domesday Book. In each shire, a body of important men was sworn (''juré'') to report to the sheriff all crimes committed since the last session of the circuit court. Thus originated the more recent grand jury that presents information for an indictment.〔(The Making of Modern Britain )〕 The grand jury was later recognized by King John in Magna Carta in 1215 on demand of the nobility.〔(Turley, Hugh: "The Grand Jury" ), Hyattsville Life & Times, 2007〕 The Grand Jury can be said to be "celebrating" its 800th birthday in 2015, because a precursor to the Grand Jury is defined in Article 61, the longest of the 63 articles of the Magna Carta, also called ''Magna Carta Libertatum'' (Latin: "the Great Charter of Liberties") executed on 15 June 1215 by King John and by the Barons. The document was primarily composed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Stephen Langton (1150-1228), who is also the man who divided the books of the Bible into chapters and verses. He was a Bible scholar, and the concept of the Grand Jury may possibly derive from Deuteronomy 25:1: "If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked." (King James Version) Thus the Grand Jury has been described as the "Shield and the Sword" of the People, as a "Shield for the People" from abusive indictments of the government, or malicious indictments of individuals, and as the "Sword of the People" to cut away crime by any private individual, or cut away crime by any public servant, whether in the Judicial, Executive, or Legislative branches. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「grand jury」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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