Time lines

The laws of 29 september - 21 october 1791 organize the criminal procedure. In particular, they confer considerable power on the justice of the peace and make the popular jury an essential player in the judgment.. The grand jury is made up of 8 citizens drawn by lot and is presided over by an elected judge (district court judge) ; he decides whether or not to refer the defendant to the criminal court. This criminal court, one per department, includes the trial jury composed of twelve citizens chosen by lot.

If the principle of trial by jury is of English origin ("trial by jury"), it was during the incorporation of the Belgian provinces into France, that the two-jury system (accusation and judgment) is introduced in "Belgium".

The assize court system, imported from France, is governed by the French criminal investigation code of 1808. Like all other legislative works from the beginning of the 19th century, this Code is a work of compromise or rather of superposition between the conflicting terms of the two previous legislations : the royal decree of 1670, i.e. the Code of Louis XIV, the laws of 1791, i.e. the Code of the Revolution. It is born from a vast reflection on the criminal question, and enshrines popular ownership of criminal procedure through the introduction of two juries (accusation and judgment). The indictment jury quickly fell into disuse to be finally replaced by the indictment chamber of the court of appeal.

In 1814, the fall of the French Empire leads to an allied tutelage of Belgium. The 6 november, a decree of William of Orange, in his capacity as Governor General of Belgium, abolishes the institution of the jury in the southern provinces. After the Congress of Vienna, Belgium falls under Dutch domination where the courts of assize remain but without jury.

Article 98 of the constitution declares : "The jury is established in all criminal matters, political and press offenses". The abolition of the jury being one of the grievances against the Dutch regime, the goal in 1831 is to restore the institution in the first instance and perfect it once in operation. The terms of the French Criminal Code of 1808 relating to the jury are therefore brought back into force.

The jurors must be taken from Belgian citizens paying a certain tax (different depending on the province) or, apart from any contribution, among a certain category of persons automatically placed on the jury rolls (e.g : mayors, aldermen, doctors of law, notaries, etc.). Some people are exempt or removed from the list such as people over the age of seventy, ministers, ministers of religion, active duty military, etc. The law of 15 may 1838 also introduces the mechanism of correction of crimes which empties the assize courts of their substance. This mechanism consists for the prosecution and the investigating courts, to admit extenuating circumstances or a cause for excuse in order to refer the judgment of the crimes to the criminal court, normally reserved for the assize court and therefore for the jury.

"No one can be sworn, if he is not Belgian by birth, if he did not obtain the great naturalization, if he does not enjoy civil and political rights and if he has not completed thirty years"

(Art. 97, L. on the O.J.. 1869).

However, to be part of the jury, it is not enough to fulfill these three conditions, the special conditions provided for by the Law of 15 may 1838 are always required : a contribution to the State of a certain amount, an exemption for certain citizens as well as the automatic addition to the jury list of certain categories of people. The permanent deputations of the provincial councils are responsible for drawing up annually, for each judicial district a general list of persons qualified to be jurors.

The law of 23 August constitutes the first major reform of the institution : the court and jury are now collaborating on sentencing. This collaboration tends to create a counterweight to the indulgence and clemency of jurors. Indeed, for a long time, a jury contestation, relayed by the press, the judicial world and public opinion, was orchestrated around a major theme : that of "scandalous acquittals". Following too great an identification with the condemned and the fear of too severe a sentence for him, some juries were too lenient. The judicial world thus saw its investigation led to harm by a verdict of acquittal. The law of 1919 as well as the increase in the number of correctionalized crimes aim to reduce the number of wrongful acquittals.

The law of 1930 changes the composition of the jury. The number of people who can act as jurors is extended. The tax is no longer a necessary condition for the function, on the other hand, education becomes essential : "they (the jurors) are asked if they can read and write and what is their national language". Persons who do not speak the language of the trial are automatically rejected. The question of access to jury duty for women has arisen in particular, but the legislator has made no provision preventing them from being part of a jury of assizes.. Since the law of 1930, the jurors are therefore selected on the basis of the list of voters.

If the legal system remained marked for a long time by the French occupation and by few modifications, at the end of the years 1990 reform proposals are starting to stir up the debate. The Assize Court and its popular jury are increasingly criticized. The law of 2009 does not rule out the possibility of a progressive abolition of the assize court but is content to modify certain essential elements of the procedure. It aims at the duty to state reasons on the guilt decision of the popular jury. In accordance with European obligations (jurisprudence Taxquet), the legislator provides that jurors must give reasons for their answer to each of the questions relating to guilt. The court then writes, in the aftermath, the reasons for the verdict.

The pot-pourri II law or "law amending criminal law and criminal procedure and laying down various terms in matters of justice" follows the pot-pourri I law of 19 october 2015 on civil procedure. Its objective is to adapt criminal law and criminal procedure in order to accelerate and simplify procedures. By the possible correctionalization of all offenses, the assize procedure becomes an exceptional procedure applied for the most serious criminal acts, for example those committed against police officers or involving minors and for which the family opposes correctionalization. The President of the Assize Court and his two assessors, considered more adept at estimating the value and legitimacy of evidence, now participate in the deliberation on guilt. Therefore, when deliberating on guilt and sentencing, these three professional judges constitute with the jury a "college".