<P> In England and Wales (which have the same legal system), everyone accused of an offence which carries more than six months imprisonment has a right to trial by jury . Minor ("Summary only") criminal cases are heard without a jury in the Magistrates' Courts . Middle - ranking ("triable either way") offences may be tried by magistrates or the defendant may elect trial by jury in the Crown Court . Serious ("indictable") offences, however, must be tried before a jury in the Crown Court . Juries sit in a few civil cases, in particular, defamation and cases involving the state . Juries also sit in coroner's courts for more contentious inquests . All criminal juries consist of 12 jurors, those in a County Court having 8 jurors and Coroner's Court juries having between 7 and 11 members . Jurors must be between 18--75 years of age, and are selected at random from the register of voters . In the past a unanimous verdict was required . This has been changed so that, if the jury fails to agree after a given period, at the discretion of the judge they may reach a verdict by a 10 - 2 majority . This was designed to make it more difficult for jury tampering to succeed . </P> <P> In 1999 the then Home Secretary Jack Straw introduced a controversial bill to limit the right to trial by jury . This became the Criminal Justice Act 2003, which sought to remove the right to trial by jury for cases involving jury tampering or complex fraud . The provision for trial without jury to circumvent jury tampering succeeded and came into force in 2007, the provision for complex fraud cases was defeated . Lord Goldsmith, the then Attorney General, then pressed forward with the Fraud (Trials Without a Jury) Bill in Parliament, which sought to abolish jury trials in major criminal fraud trials . The Bill was subject to sharp criticism from both sides of the House of Commons before passing its second Commons reading in November 2006, but was defeated in the Lords in March 2007 . </P> <P> The trial for the first serious offence to be tried without a jury for 350 years was allowed to go ahead in 2009 . Three previous trials of the defendants had been halted because of jury tampering, and the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, cited cost and the additional burden on the jurors as reasons to proceed without a jury . Previously in cases where jury tampering was a concern the jurors were sometimes closeted in a hotel for the duration of the trial . However, Liberty director of policy Isabella Sankey said that "This is a dangerous precedent . The right to jury trial isn't just a hallowed principle but a practice that ensures that one class of people don't sit in judgement over another and the public have confidence in an open and representative justice system . </P> <P> The trial started in 2010, with the four defendants convicted on the 31st of March 2010 by Mr Justice Treacy at the Old Bailey . </P>

Who are the opponents in a new york jury trial