Peremptory challenges are usually based on the hunches of counsel and no reason is needed to use them. Arguments for and against the re-introduction of a jury system have been discussed by South African constitutional expert Professor Pierre de Vos in the article "Do we need a jury system? Can I change defense lawyers after I've hired one? (For more, including the role of state law in affording juries to defendants, see The Right to Trial by Jury.). Roman law provided for the yearly selection of judices, who would be responsible for resolving disputes by acting as jurors, with a praetor performing many of the duties of a judge. [40], In civil cases in the Court of First Instance jury trials are available for defamation, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution or seduction unless the court orders otherwise. In the Republic of Ireland, a common law jurisdiction, jury trials are available for criminal cases before the Circuit Court, Central Criminal Court and defamation cases, consisting of twelve jurors. Each state sets its own compensation rules. For other uses, see, In the United States, a civil action is a, Majority and unanimous verdicts in criminal trials. High government officials and their relatives were barred from acting as judices, due to conflicts of interest. The Welsh shall treat us and ours in the same way. 25 Edward III stat 5., c3 (1353). However, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 39(c) allows a court to use one at its discretion. In Scandinavia and Germany, prison is strictly a last resort. A year later, the Code of Criminal Procedure was adopted in 1861. The juries are generally made of seven members, who can return a verdict based on a majority of five. Some civil law nations have also introduced juries or lay judges into their criminal justice systems. A jury can return a majority verdict in a civil case. In the United States, jury trials are available in both civil and criminal cases. Western Australia accepted majority verdicts in 1957 for all trials except where the crime is murder or has a life sentence. Following the judicial reform of Alexander II in Russia, unlike in modern jury trials, jurors decided not only whether the defendant was guilty or not guilty, but they had a third choice: "Guilty, but not to be punished", since Alexander II believed that justice without morality was wrong. In the same way, a merchant shall be spared his merchandise, and a husbandman the implements of his husbandry, if they fall upon the mercy of a royal court. Juries or lay judges have also been incorporated into the legal systems of many civil law countries for criminal cases. Although it says "and or by the law of the land", this in no manner can be interpreted as if it were enough to have a positive law, made by the king, to be able to proceed legally against a citizen. Those previously found guilty of serious crimes (felonies) were also barred as were gladiators for hire, who likely were hired to resolve disputes through trial by combat. Until 1987 New South Wales had twenty peremptory challenges for each side where the offence was murder, and eight for all other cases. In Canada, an individual charged with an indictable offence may elect to be tried by a judge alone in a provincial court, by judge alone in a superior court, or by judge and jury in a superior court; summary offences cannot be tried by jury. However, in many jurisdictions, the number of jurors is often reduced to a lesser number (such as five or six) by legislative enactment, or by agreement of both sides.