Legal directions and summary of evidence for the jury

All Contents > Crown Court Trial > Jury > Prosecution Case > Defence Case > Judge's Summing-Up > Verdict

“After closing speeches from the prosecution and defence and before the members of the jury retire to consider their verdict, the judge will sum-up the case to the jury. ”

On this page …

What is included in the judge’s summing-up?
Directions of law - the first part of a judge’s summing-up
Standard Directions - included in every trial
1. Functions of the judge and jury
2. Burden and standard of proof
3. Separate consideration of counts
4. Separate consideration of defendants
5. Elements of offence
- Technical approach with legal definitions
- Written route to verdict approach
- Tailoring legal directions to the facts of the case
6. Defences
Mistaken identification example
Self-defence example
Additional common legal directions to the jury
Summary of the evidence - the second part of the judge’s summing-up
Final directions to the jury before retirement
Links to Further Information

What is included in the judge’s summing-up?

After closing speeches from the prosecution and defence and before the members of the jury retire to consider their verdict, the judge will sum-up the case to the jury.

There are two parts to a judge’s summing-up:

Directions of law;
A summary of the evidence in the case, including the prosecution and defence cases.

Although traditionally the summing-up takes place after closing speeches, in some cases the judge may decide to give certain legal directions to the jury at an earlier stage in the trial where it would assist them to understand the case and focus on the key issues.

Read on for details of how a judge will sum-up a criminal case to a jury.