Jury of matrons

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(Law)

a jury of experienced women called to determine the question of pregnancy when set up in bar of execution, and for other cognate purposes.

See also: Matron

References in classic literature ?

It was a moving sight to behold him wasting away day by day, growing thinner and thinner and ghastlier and ghastlier, and staring with rueful visage from under an old patchwork counterpane, upon the jury of matrons kindly assembled to sigh and groan and look unhappy around him.

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Since the 14th century and possibly earlier the only women allowed to serve as jurors were those married mothers who formed a 'jury of matrons'.

Victorian juries: Roland Quinault looks at how the Victorians saw the old English system of trial by jury as a defining feature of British good government and fair play and as an example to other nations. Admiration for the system at home and abroad, though, contrasted with the practical realities faced by 19th-century juries

Another such "special" fact-finding body, to which Oldham devotes an entire chapter, was called a "jury of matrons." He describes how groups of "honest women of good reputation" were sometimes assigned to inspect the clothing of women accused of being witches to see if "instruments of witchcraft" were hidden in them.