Who generally comprises a jury?

The jury system in the UK is a cornerstone of its legal system, designed to ensure trials are fair and impartial. The idea is that ordinary citizens, representing a cross-section of society, should decide the facts of a case. To achieve this, jurors are selected randomly from the electoral register, which lists all eligible voters in the country. This random selection aims to prevent bias and ensure that the jury isn't composed of individuals with specific agendas or pre-existing knowledge of the case. While it might seem logical that people working in court or those with a particular interest in politics could be jurors, their involvement could compromise the impartiality of the process. Similarly, requiring an application would open the door to potential manipulation and skew the jury's composition. The electoral register provides the broadest and most neutral pool from which to draw jurors, upholding the principle of a fair trial by one's peers.