Juries are an archaic and inefficient feature of Britain’s collapsing justice system. They survive only in some English-speaking countries as quaint relics of medieval jurisprudence. They deserve dispatch to the world of ducking, flogging, drawing and quartering.

As it is, criminal courts have built up a hopeless backlog in England and Wales of almost 80,000 cases, with some hearings postponed to 2029. A surge in rape cases has led to a two-year delay, with twice the number of complainants withdrawing as five years ago. Britain’s prison population threatens to break the 100,000 barrier, or twice its size in the 1990s. These are not just convicts. A fifth of cells contain remand prisoners spending months awaiting trial. This is a parody of justice.

The justice secretary, David Lammy, knows it cannot go on. He proposes that juries be confined to extreme crimes, such as rape, manslaughter and murder, with the rest defaulting to a single judge. This year, the Leveson review of the criminal courts warned of a “total system collapse”. Brian Leveson, a former judge, proposed most trials go before a judge with two magistrates in attendance. In the jury-loving US, a similar crisis has led to 98% of........

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