Juries (Northern Ireland) Order 1996
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 1996/1141 |
1996 No. 1141 (N.I. 6)
NORTHERN IRELAND
The Juries (Northern Ireland) Order 1996
Made 24th April 1996
Coming into operation on days to be appointed under Article 1
At the Court at Windsor Castle, the 24th day of April 1996
Present,
The Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty in Council
Whereas a draft of this Order has been approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament:
Now, therefore, Her Majesty, in exercise of the powers conferred by paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 to the1Northern Ireland Act 1974 and of all other powers enabling Her in that behalf, is pleased, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, to order, and it is hereby ordered, as follows:—
Introductory
Title and commencement
1. This Order may be cited as the Juries (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 and shall come into operation on such day or days as the Lord Chancellor may by order appoint.
Interpretation
2.—(1) Subject to paragraph (4), the 2Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 shall apply to Article 1 and the following provisions of this Order as it applies to a Measure of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
(2) In this Order—
“Chief Electoral Officer” has the meaning assigned to it by section 130(1) of the3Electoral Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1962;
“division” means a county court division specified under Article 3(1) of the4County Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1980 or such county court divisions or part of them as may be prescribed;
“the Divisional Jurors List” has the meaning given by Article 4(6) ;
“elector” means a local elector as defined in the Electoral Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1962;
“fixed”, in relation to a fee, means fixed in accordance with section 116(1) of the5Judicature (Northern Ireland) Act 1978;
“Juries Officer” in relation to a division means such member of the Northern Ireland Court Service as the Lord Chancellor may designate to be the Juries Officer for that division and different persons may be designated to be the Juries Officer for the purposes of different provisions of this Order;
“the Jurors List” has the meaning given by Article 4(9);
“jury service” means service on any jury for the trial of any issue, civil or criminal, joined in and triable by any court in Northern Ireland in which such issues are required to be tried by a jury and on any inquiry to be taken or made by or before any master in the Supreme Court and references to “juror” and “jury” shall be construed accordingly;
“officer of the court” means a member of the Northern Ireland Court Service;
“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Lord Chancellor under Article 30;
“register of electors” means the last published copy of the register referred to in section 9(1)(b) of the6Representation of the People Act 1983 (register of local electors);
“statutory provision” has the meaning assigned to it by section 1(f) of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954;
“talesman” means any juror selected under Article 18.
(3) For the purposes of this Order a person is between two particular ages if he has attained the first but not the second.
(4) For the purposes of this Order section 24 of the7Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 (service of documents) shall have effect with the omission of the word “registering” in subsection (1).
Qualification for jury service
Qualification for jury service
3.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (2) to (4), every person who is aged between 18 and 70 years and is registered as an elector is qualified and liable for jury service.
(2) The persons described in Schedule 1 are disqualified for jury service.
(3) The persons described in Schedule 2 are ineligible for jury service.
(4) A person who is on bail in connection with an offence shall not be qualified for jury service in the Crown Court.
(5) A person who—
(a)
(a) knowingly serves as a juror when he is disqualified for jury service; or
(b)
(b) knowingly serves as a juror in the Crown Court when he is not qualified for jury service as mentioned in paragraph (4),
shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.
Preparation of Jurors Lists
Preparation of Jurors Lists
4.—(1) In each year, on any day within the period of 14 days immediately preceding 1st March in that year, the Chief Electoral Officer shall arrange for the selection by computer, in accordance with paragraph (2), from the register of electors a sufficient number of jurors for the purpose of empanelling such juries as may from time to time be required.
(2) In each year, for the purpose of selecting the required number of jurors from the register of electors, the computer shall be programmed—
(a)
(a) to select every xth elector (where x is a number fixed by the Chief Electoral Officer having regard to the required number of jurors); and
(b)
(b) not to select those electors—
(i) whose names have been furnished by the several Juries Officers as being disqualified or ineligible for jury service or excused from jury service under Article 24, or
(ii) who have been selected in the preceding y years (where y is a number fixed by the Chief Electoral Officer, having regard to the required number of jurors).
(3) The Chief Electoral Officer shall arrange to be sent to the Juries Officer for each division a list of those persons selected who reside in the division and the Juries Officer shall serve the prescribed notice and the prescribed form of return on every person whose name is included in the list.
(4) The notice served under paragraph (3) shall—
(a)
(a) state the effect of Articles 3, 10 and 25 and Schedules 1, 2 and 3; and
(b)
(b) require the person on whom it is served to fill up the form of return in the prescribed manner and return the form within 14 days to the Juries Officer for the division in which that person resides.
(5) The Juries Officer, after considering the returns made under paragraph (4)(b) and such other matters as he thinks appropriate, shall revise the list referred to in paragraph (3).
(6) The list referred to in paragraph (3) as revised by the Juries Officer shall be and be known as “the Divisional Jurors List” and in each year the Juries Officer shall give public notice on any day within the period of 14 days immediately preceding 1st September in that year that copies of the Divisional Jurors List are available for inspection and may be obtained on payment of the fee fixed by the Lord Chancellor.
(7) The Divisional Jurors List shall contain the full name and address and, subject to paragraph (10)(b), the occupation of each juror in that division qualified and liable for jury service in that year.
(8) The Divisional Jurors List shall contain such other particulars and be arranged in such form (including division into Parts whether by reference to the area of jurisdiction of any court or courts or otherwise) as may be prescribed.
(9) The several Divisional Jurors Lists shall collectively form the Jurors List for Northern Ireland (to be known as “the Jurors List”).
(10) Regulations under Article 30 may amend this Article as to—
(a)
(a) the days and periods mentioned in paragraphs (1) and (6), and
(b)
(b) the requirement in paragraph (7) for the Divisional Jurors List to contain the occupation of each juror,
and may prescribe any other particulars which the Divisional Jurors List shall contain and the form of that List (including its division into Parts whether by reference to the area of jurisdiction of any court or courts or otherwise).
(11) In this Article—
“computer” means any device for storing and processing information; and
“year” means calendar year.
Empanelling of jurors
Selection of names
5.—(1) Where a court is to be held before which jurors may be required, the Juries Officer shall select a sufficient number of names from the Jurors List and prepare a panel of those names.
(2) A person’s name shall not be included in the panel unless his name appears in the Jurors List for the current year, but if there is no Jurors List in existence for the current year, jurors may be selected from the Jurors List for the next preceding year.
(3) Subject to paragraph (4), there shall be no restriction on the places in Northern Ireland at which a juror may be required to attend for jury service.
(4) In preparing a panel of jurors to be summoned to attend for jury service at a particular court or place—
(a)
(a) the Juries Officer shall, in the first instance, take the names of the jurors in numerical order from the Divisional Jurors List for the division in which that court or place is situated;
(b)
(b) if, taking names in accordance with sub-paragraph (a), the Juries Officer exhausts the Divisional Jurors List for the division in which that court or place is situated, he shall select such other jurors as may be required in numerical order from any one or more of the other Divisional Jurors Lists, but in so doing he shall have regard to the convenience of the persons to be summoned and to their respective places of residence, and in particular to the desirability of selecting, so far as is reasonably practicable, jurors who reside within convenient daily travelling distance of that place.
(5) If the place of trial of a person on indictment is not situated within a relevant division the Crown Court may direct the Juries Officer to prepare a panel of jurors under paragraph (4) for the purposes of that trial as if references to the Divisional Jurors List for the division in which that court or place is situated were references to the Divisional Jurors List for a relevant division.
(6) In paragraph (5) “relevant division” means—
(a)
(a) a division for which a relevant magistrates' court acts;
(b)
(b) in a case where the indictment falls within paragraph...
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