a jury of one's peers

   The expression " convicted by a jury of his peers" doesn't have a legal meaning in the United States, where we are all political equals. Juries in the United States are drawn from the public at large--they are meant to be a "random" group of citizens. In a country that still has some citizens born with different rights and obligations, a "jury of his peers" has a literal, and a legal, meaning. In England ( the United Kingdom ), where some men are born "lords", who will later serve as members of the House of Lords, a "peer of the realm" is tried only by his peers--in the House of Lords.