engleski

Trial by jury in Croatia 1849 - 1918 : transfer and the context

Trial by jury was introduced into the autonomous Croatian legal system in 1875 by adapting the Austrian model. The shaping of the institute was affected by internal and, indirectly, external factors. In contrast to the Austrian model, trial by jury in Croatia were restricted by their position in the judicial system, the scope of their competence, the number of courts and the fact that procedural provisions were made stricter to some extent. These restrictions were implemented in order to adapt to the actual conditions in Croatia, in accordance with the liberal political leanings of Croatian legislators who were sceptical of the socially limited environment and the political limitations coming from governments in Vienna and Budapest. The public prosecutor attempted to neutralise the irritation which trial by jury caused in politics by using the tactics of avoiding trial by jury and transferring the centre of gravity of repression to the professional courts. Since this method was inadequate in controlling the opposition press in the authoritarian political sphere which succeeded after 1884, trial by jury were neutralised by suspension and the formal limitation of the institute. However, liberalisation of the prevalent political orientation led to reaffirmation of trial by jury. Thus the development of trial by jury in Croatia and Slavonia took place within the parallel evolution of the legal and social, or rather political aspects of the institution and in the face of authoritarian attitudes towards trials by jury. The key influence on the fate of trial by jury was the political factor, while legal considerations, i.e. the conceptual limitations of the institute, were of secondary importance. The social determinants (social structure, level of education and the lack of a tradition of lay trials) were of indirect importance. The potential for trial by jury to continue developing was cut short by the First World War and all forms of lay trials were extinguished in the new Yugoslav state. In judicial practice proceedings conducted before juries were characterised by the tendency to use investigating reports, with little importance attached to witness statements during the main trial, the tendency of the defence to argue the truthfulness of incriminating allegations, short jury deliberations, the prevalence of acquittals and the imposition of very harsh sentences. Juries were composed mostly of craftsmen and intellectuals, and were multi-ethnic, with a prevalence of Croats, a good proportion of Jews and somewhat fewer Serbs. Although government and Serbian representatives in the Sabor supported the suspension and restriction of juries, complaining of the systematically anti-Serb orientation of jurors, the cases we have analysed from judicial practice provide no basis for such a conclusion. By all means, study of transfer and functioning of the jury trial in Croatian legal system gives a complex picture of the institute as well as its environment.

trial by jury, legal transplants

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