Gentlemen of the Grand Jury

These two volumes include transcriptions of every complete, partial, or summarized grand jury charge known to have been given in the United States prior to 1801, except those delivered by members of the United States Supreme Court. They also contain transcriptions of drafts of other charges that may have been delivered, and a number of items involving disputes between judges and grand juries over the extent of their respective authority. In addition, bibliographic information accompanying each selection enables readers to estimate its minimum contemporary circulation.

The documents presented in Gentlemen of the Grand Jury address a surprisingly wide array of topics. These include politics, foreign and domestic policy, local social and economic development, and education, as well as the rules of criminal procedure, evidence, and the substantive criminal law. As a result, this book will be of interest and value to historians, lawyers searching for the original understanding of the Bill of Rights, and ordinary Americans looking for a glimpse into our country's history.

This two-volume treatise is available only as a set and is part of the Legal History Series, edited by H. Jefferson Powell, Duke University School of Law.