Why can’t a professional soldier be called up as a member of an assize jury?

Answer

Dear Eric,

I think for two reasons.

Firstly, because the drafters of the Code of Criminal Procedure were afraid that soldiers would be too strict in their judgment.

But secondly, the following argument also plays a role. The Assize Court does not only rule on crimes, but also on certain press offenses and “political crimes”. And this last matter was apparently considered too “sensitive” to be tried by professional soldiers. They feared a certain bias.

In fact, the jurisdiction of the Assize Court for political crimes is rather theoretical. The definition of such crimes is so narrow that I don’t recall any crimes being classified as political crimes in the last 10 or 20 years ago.

Hopefully this answer will help you…