Uncommon Commentary #57: Our Method of Trying Is Very Trying

In the phrase "jury of one's peers," "peers" originally meant those of the realm; the jury was an innovation of the English aristocracy, intended to restrain the power of post-Norman-Conquest kings (especially John, whom those aristocrats forced to sign the Magna Charta) by preventing the monarch from juridically punishing intractable nobles without the concurrence of fellow nobles.  This concept evolved—more accurately, "degenerated"—into something that I think ought to be abolished: trial by a jury of average citizens.  Were I on trial for my life, I'd rather that my earthly fate lay in the hands of professionals (the judge who presides over my case, and those who have charge of appellate courts) than in those of a bunch of amateurs, most of whom would rather be doing almost anything other than dispending justice.