To enroll or select someone as a member of a panel, especially a jury.
From em- (cause to be) + panel. 'Panel' comes from Old French meaning 'a piece of cloth or parchment.' The word evolved from literally writing names on a parchment list to the modern sense of officially selecting people for jury duty.
This legal term shows how court systems need specific vocabulary—'empanel' is essentially the official way to say 'put someone on a jury,' and it's still used constantly in courthouses even though most people have never heard of it.
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