Trial by jury

Fiddes v Channel 4 Television Corporation and others [2010] EWCA Civ 730, [2010] All ER (D) 248 (Jun); NLJ 9 July p974

In deciding the mode of trial in defamation proceedings, although the additional cost and the additional length of a jury trial were relevant it would be dangerous if those two factors were given much independent weight as it would risk undermining the important right to a jury trial which s69(2) gave to defendants as well as the claimants in libel actions. When considering inconvenience from ‘the prolonged examination of documents’ the court should not at that stage look at any other inconvenience. The fact that one party was a public figure might often be a reason for favouring a jury trial, but that did not mean that the fact that neither party was a public figure was a reason against a jury trial. The constitutional importance of the right to trial by jury has to be borne in mind on the issue of convenience as well as of discretion. The fact that juries in criminal trials sometimes have to consider complex documentation did not really bear on s69.