Bench trial

A bench trial is a trial with is no jury, and a judge decides who wins or loses.^[1] Some law systems use bench trials for almost all cases (Roman, Islamic). Others use them for only some cases or only some kinds of cases. The rules for bench trials may be different in courts that hear accused criminals and courts that hear lawsuits.

In jury trials, it is the judge's duty to say what is the law and the jury's duty to find the facts. In a bench trial, the judge does both.^[2] In some bench trials, both sides already agree on the facts. For example, in civil disobedience cases that are designed to test the law, the accused people often agree with the prosecuting lawyers about what happened. They want only for the judge to decide whether it really was illegal.

Bench trials are usually faster than jury trials because the court must do fewer things. For example, there is no jury selection and no need to send the jury to live separately or give them special instructions. For example, if lawyers in a jury trial disagree about whether a piece of evidence should be shown to the jury, they must call for a sidebar and talk to the judge about it privately. In a bench trial, they do not have to keep anything secret from a jury. The judge may also make the trial start and stop or decide to let the lawyers skip opening and closing statements.^[3]

Sometimes, people ask for a bench trial if the evidence is scientific or difficult to understand.

A bench trial is almost the same as a jury trial in other ways. For example, the rules of evidence and the methods of objection are the same in a bench trial as in a jury trial. Bench trials can be more informal than jury trials since it is often less necessary to protect the record with objections, and sometimes evidence is accepted de bene (temprarily) because it can be removed later.

When a jury makes a decision at the end of a trial, it is called a verdict. When a judge in a bench trial makes a decision at the end of a trial, it is called a finding.^[4]

United Kingdom

England and Wales

Most civil trials in England and Wales are bench trials.

Summary criminal trials may be heard by a single district judge (Magistrates' Court) or by a group of two or more magistrates, usually three.

Section 47 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 allows bench trials, but they are rare. There have been only two bench trials of this kind since 2003.^[5]

Scotland

Most civil trials in Scotland are conducted in the Sheriff Court by a sheriff sitting alone. In the Court of Session, a judge from either the Inner or the Outer House usually sits over the trial alone; but the judge may work with a jury if the trial is for personal injury.

Summary criminal trials are conducted by a sheriff in the Sheriff Court or a Justice of the Peace in the Justice of the Peace Court sitting alone, according to the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995. Trials requiring juries are called solemn procedure.

Turks and Caicos

The Commission of Inquiry of 2008–2009 in Turks and Caicos stated that the law should allow some criminal trials without juries like England and Wales, the United States, India, Canada, the British overseas territories of the Falkland Islands and of St. Helena, and the Netherlands.^[6]

United States

In the United States, people on trial for crimes have the right to trial by jury, but they can sometimes choose to have a bench trial instead if they want, according to the Sixth Amendment.

For an accused person to have a bench trial in the federal court system, three things must happen. The accused person must state in writing that no jury is wanted, the government must agree, and the court itself must agree, according to Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.

The state court systems have different rules. For example, Missouri states in Missouri Supreme Court Rule 27.01(b),^[7] "The defendant may, with the assent of the court, waive a trial by jury and submit the trial of any criminal case to the court..." Missouri does not have a rule saying the government must agree.

Some judicial proceedings such as probate, family law, juvenile law, and other civil cases do not normally use juries. In such courts, judges decide both the fact and the law.

The Vaccine Courts has bench trials.

Civil law

In most countries with "Roman law," a type of civil law, there is no "jury" in the English sense, and trials are always bench trials. However, in more complicated cases, lay judges may be called. Unlike juries, they are not randomly selected, are volunteers, and vote as judges.

Related pages

• Bench (law)
• Jury trial
• Criminal law
• Civil law
• Diplock courts
• Special Criminal Court