Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will be issued. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing. In Ireland, they also functioned as local government authorities.

A grand jury is so named because it has a greater number of jurors
than a trial jury (also known as a petit jury, from the French for small).

By jurisdiction

Australia

In Australia, the State of Victoria maintained, until 2009, provisions for a grand jury in the Crimes Act 1958 under section 354 Indictments, which had been used on rare occasions by individuals to bring other persons to court seeking them to be committed for trial on indictable offenses.

Canada

Grand juries were once common across Canada and old courthouses with the two jury boxes necessary to accommodate the 24 jurors of a grand jury can still be seen. The grand jury would evaluate charges and return what was called a "true bill" if the charges were to proceed. The practice gradually disappeared in Canada over the course of the twentieth century, ultimately being abolished in 1984 when the Nova Scotia courts formally ended the practice.

England

The first instance of a grand jury can be traced back to the Assize of Clarendon, an 1166 act of Henry II of England. In fact, Henry's chief effect on the development of the English monarchy was to increase the jurisdiction of the royal courts at the expense of the feudal courts. Itinerant justices on regular circuits were sent out once each year to enforce the "King's Peace". To make this system of royal criminal justice more effective, Henry employed the method of inquest used by William the Conqueror in the Domesday Book. In each shire a body of important men was sworn (juré) to report to the sheriff all crimes committed since the last session of the circuit court. Thus originated the modern grand jury that presents information for an indictment. The grand jury was later recognized by King John in Magna Carta in 1215 on demand of the nobility.

England abandoned grand juries in 1933 and instead uses a committal procedure.

Ireland

[...]

While all states in the U.S. currently have provisions for Grand Juries, today approximately
half of the states employ them and only twenty-two require their use, to varying extents.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_jury

So it looks like about half the US are the only today who preserve the 864 year old grand Jury system.

Good question.