Does South Africa use jury trials?
Not used
Jury trials were abolished in 1969 and are not currently used in the South African justice system.
South Africa is one of 8 countries classified “Not used” for jury trials — 30% of the 27 with data.
Source
- Taken from
- Wikipedia: Jury trial
- Last checked
- 17 September 2026
- How it was classified
- Classified by a language model from the source text, then checked against hand-verified reference countries.
Nearby countries
- Greece
- Not used The evidence describes the historical jury system of Ancient Athens, implying it is not a current legal institution.
- Italy
- Limited use / mixed courts Juries are used only for specific serious crimes in mixed courts.
- Argentina
- Limited use / mixed courts Argentina has a jury system specifically for serious criminal cases since November 2015.
- Hungary
- Limited use / mixed courts Hungary uses a mixed court system with lay judges participating in panels for specified cases.
- Switzerland
- Not used The unified Swiss Code of Criminal Procedure entering into force in 2011 abolishes jury trials and lay judges.
- Austria
- Limited use / mixed courts Austria retains jury elements only for serious criminal cases, indicating a limited application.
Other laws in South Africa
- Death Penalty
- Fully abolished
- Gun Laws
- Restrictive
- Military Conscription
- No conscription
Every law in South Africa → · Which countries use jury trials? →
A visual reference compiled from Wikipedia’s law-by-country articles, not legal advice. Laws change and summaries simplify — check a primary source before relying on anything here.