North DakotaJury Nullification
North Dakota's constitution says that in libel cases the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the facts under the direction of the court. A statute says jurors have the power to find a general verdict that includes questions of law, and are bound to receive as law what the court lays down. The constitution gives a jury of twelve where more than a year's confinement is possible. It also says all verdicts must be unanimous.
Overview
Juries in North Dakota
North Dakota puts both halves in one sentence of statute. Jurors have the power to find a general verdict which includes questions of law as well as of fact, and they are bound, nevertheless, to receive as law what is laid down as such by the court. That sentence opens by setting libel cases apart.
Libel is where the North Dakota constitution speaks to the jury and the law. There the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the facts under the direction of the court, as in other cases. What that section covers is in the North Dakota chapter of the guide.
The constitution also gives a jury of twelve to anyone facing more than one year of confinement, with at least six jurors in other cases. It says all verdicts must be unanimous. What the pattern instructions tell a jury that cannot agree is in the chapter.
The North Dakota chapter
What's in the Guide for North Dakota?
Jury selection
How the size of a North Dakota jury depends on the charge, who counts as a juror under the state's harassment law, and the order of the closing instructions.
What the judge tells you
What the North Dakota pattern instruction on accepting the law from the court says, who writes the pattern instructions, and what the Supreme Court says about their standing.
How the verdict works
What it means that each North Dakota juror must agree to the verdict, and what two further instructions offer a jury that is stuck.
Protections and risks
What North Dakota law says about contacting a juror during a case, about harassing a former juror because of a verdict, and how it treats a juror's spouse and household.
The law in plain English
The North Dakota laws behind the chapter in everyday words. They include the statutes on questions of law and on the jury's general verdict, the law on harassing jurors, the court rules on instructions and on verdicts, and two sections of the state constitution.
Official state resources
Links to North Dakota's official sources, each one checked. They cover the Century Code and constitution on the legislature's site, the courts' rules, the pattern jury instructions reached through the State Bar Association, and the North Dakota Courts' Jury Service page.
Your summons
Called for Jury Duty in North Dakota?
A North Dakota jury summons asks you to come to court and, if you are picked, to decide a case with the other jurors. Every verdict has to be unanimous.
The North Dakota Courts have a Jury Service page with a handbook for jurors. It covers reporting, who can serve, and how to ask to be excused.
That page covers serving. What the statute says about a general verdict and the court's law, what the constitution says about libel cases, and what the instructions offer a jury that cannot agree are covered in the North Dakota chapter of the guide.
Your North Dakota summons
- Sent byThe clerk of district court for your county
- Names come fromThe voter rolls and other lists such as driver's licenses and vehicle registrations
- It asks you toCome to court and, if you are picked, decide a case with the other jurors
- Jury size12 where confinement of more than one year is possible; at least 6 in other cases