The Full Story
In the eighteenth century, English criminal trials were stacked against the accused. Defendants couldn't have lawyers speak for them in serious cases. They couldn't see the evidence against them before trial. They were expected to answer questions that might incriminate them.
William Garrow changed the rules.
Called to the bar in 1783, Garrow transformed criminal defence at the Old Bailey. He cross-examined prosecution witnesses aggressively, exposing lies and inconsistencies. He demanded evidence. He insisted that the prosecution prove its case rather than the defendant prove innocence.
The phrase 'innocent until proven guilty' is often attributed to Garrow in a 1791 trial, but the claim is contested: the Old Bailey Proceedings do not corroborate it. What is certain is what he did. He insisted, case after case, that the burden of proof lay on the prosecution, and he championed the accused's right to a proper defence.
Garrow's methods spread. By the early nineteenth century, defence counsel was standard in serious cases. The adversarial trial, prosecution and defence testing evidence before a jury, became the English model, exported across the common law world.
Every defendant who stands in court presumed innocent, every lawyer who cross-examines a witness, every jury that demands proof beyond reasonable doubt: all follow in Garrow's footsteps.
Why This Matters
Garrow established adversarial trial principles that protect defendants today. Whoever first said 'innocent until proven guilty', it was lawyers like Garrow, and Garrow above all, who made it courtroom reality.
Key Facts
- ⚠Correction: the claim that Garrow coined 'innocent until proven guilty' in a 1791 trial is popular but contested. The Old Bailey Proceedings do not corroborate the phrase. His documented contribution is the practice: aggressive cross-examination and insistence that the prosecution prove its case.