MaineJury Nullification
In Maine a statute has the presiding justice charge the jury on all matters of law and bars the justice from giving an opinion on the facts. The state constitution calls the unanimity of the jury indispensable, and a court rule repeats it. Juries are twelve people unless the parties agree in writing to fewer and the court approves. The constitution also speaks to the jury and the law in libel cases.
Overview
Juries in Maine
Maine's statute on the charge to the jury works in both directions. The presiding justice charges the jury on all matters of law arising in the case, and may not express an opinion on the issues of fact. The facts are the jury's.
That statute also says what happens when a justice does give an opinion on the facts. What the remedy is, and why it matters to a jury, is in the Maine chapter of the guide.
Maine requires a unanimous verdict twice, once in its constitution and once in a court rule. The constitution also has a section on libel cases that speaks to the jury and the law. What each one says is in the chapter.
The Maine chapter
What's in the Guide for Maine?
Jury selection
How a Maine jury is drawn, name by name, what the court may ask a possible juror under oath, and the test the law uses to decide whether that person can sit.
What the judge tells you
The chapter explains the statute on the judge's charge, and it sets a federal court's published instructions beside it, labelled as federal.
How the verdict works
What it means that Maine calls the unanimity of a jury indispensable, how a verdict is returned in open court, and when a jury can be fewer than twelve.
Protections and risks
What Maine's tampering law says about contacting a juror, or a person thought able to influence one, and how that differs from talking about juries in public.
The law in plain English
The Maine laws behind the chapter in everyday words. They include the statute on the charge to the jury, the statutes on drawing a jury, on questioning jurors and on challenges for cause, the tampering law, the court rules on the size of the jury and on verdicts, and three sections of the state constitution.
Official state resources
Links to Maine's official sources, each one checked. They cover the statutes and constitution on the Legislature's site, the Judicial Branch's court rules, and its Jury Service page for trial jurors.
Your summons
Called for Jury Duty in Maine?
A Maine jury summons asks you to come to court and, if you are picked, to decide the facts of a case as one of twelve jurors. The law comes from the presiding justice.
The Maine Judicial Branch has a Jury Service page for trial jurors. It covers reporting, who can serve, and how to ask to be excused.
That page covers serving. How jurors are drawn and questioned, what the justice may and may not say to you, and what Maine law says about anyone who contacts a juror are covered in the Maine chapter of the guide.
Your Maine summons
- Sent byThe Superior Court for your county
- Names come fromLicensed drivers and state ID card holders
- It asks you toCome to court and, if you are picked, decide the facts of a case as one of twelve jurors
- Jury size12; fewer only by written stipulation of the parties approved by the court