Juries Procedure (Ireland) Act 1876
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1876 c. 78 |
| Year | 1876 |
Juries Procedure (Ireland) Act, 1876
(39 & 40 Vict.) CHAPTER 78.
An Act to amend the Procedure connected with Trial by Jury in Ireland.
[15th August 1876]
W HEREAS it is expedient to amend the procedure connected with trial by Jury in Ireland:
Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
1 Short title.
1. This Act may be cited for all purposes as ‘TheJuries Procedure (Ireland) Act, 1876.’
2 Interpretation.
2. The term ‘Juries (Ireland) Acts’ in this Act shall mean The Juries (Ireland) Acts, 1871 to 1872, and the Acts altering, amending, or affecting the same for the time being in force.
3 Construction.
3. The Juries (Ireland) Acts as amended by this Act and this Act shall be construed together as one Act.
4 Summoning of jurors.
4. With respect to the summoning of jurors in rotation by the sheriff or other officer under the Juries (Ireland) Acts, the following provisions shall have effect:
1. The names of persons who when last summoned to attend as jurors have not attended in obedience to such summons shall be taken from the jurors books by the sheriff or other officer in the same manner as the names of persons who under the provisions of the said Acts are to be taken from the jurors books in rotation as persons who have not been summoned; and for the purpose of aiding the sheriff in ascertaining the persons who when summoned to attend as jurors have not so attended, it shall be the duty of the person acting as clerk of the Crown, clerk of the peace, or registrar, as the case may be, of any court to which persons shall have been summoned as jurors at the commencement of the sittings of such court, or as soon thereafter as conveniently may be, even though there be no business requiring the empannelling of a jury, to call over the panel returned by the sheriff, and to mark thereon the names of all jurors who shall have attended and answered when called, and immediately after the termination of the sittings of such court to return a copy of such panel so marked to the sheriff, who shall thereupon mark on the jurors book the names of the jurors who have attended in obedience to such summons:
Every person named as a juror in the panel returned by the sheriff, and who shall not attend and answer when so called as aforesaid, or be proved to the satisfaction of the court to have been prevented by illness or other inevitable accident from so attending or answering, shall be ordered by the court to forfeit and pay a fine or penalty of forty shillings at the least, or such larger sum as the court shall under the circumstances think fit; and every order so made for the imposition of such fine or penalty shall be and be deemed to be within the several provisions of the Fines Act, Ireland, 1851, and any Act amending the same:
2. The persons whose names shall be returned to serve as grand jurors or petit jurors at any general quarter sessions of the peace, or in any civil bill court, shall be resident within the division in and for which such sessions or civil bill court are or is held, and where such sessions or civil bill court are or is held at more than one place in such division, the jurors returned shall be resident within such petty sessions district or districts conveniently near to the place in which such sessions or court are or is held as may be prescribed by the chairman of such county in any order made under the authority of this Act, and for such purpose the sheriff or other officer in returning the said names according to the alphabetical order of selection shall when necessary for the purpose of complying with this enactment omit the name of any person not resident in such division, and may for such purpose omit the name of any person not resident in the petty sessions district or districts so prescribed as aforesaid:
3. Where a juror in attendance at any court shall have travelled a distance of not less than fifteen miles from his usual place of abode for the purpose of such attendance, it shall be lawful for the judge of such court in his discretion, upon the application of such juror, having regard to the time necessarily occupied and the expense necessarily incurred in such travelling, to grant to such juror a certificate of exemption for the next occasion when such juror would, in the ordinary course, be selected to be returned as a juror on any panel for any purpose whatsoever; and if such certificate shall be forwarded to the office of the sheriff within whose bailiwick such court was held within ten days from the granting thereof, but not otherwise, an entry of the same shall be made opposite the name of such juror in the general jurors book or special jurors book; and thereupon the sheriff or other officer shall omit to select such juror on the occasion specified in such certificate when such juror would be selected in ordinary course; and after such omission the sheriff or other officer shall, in making any subsequent selection and return, treat suck juror as though he had on the occasion of such omission been duly selected, returned, and summoned, and had attended in accordance with such summons.
5 Where quarter sessions or civil bill court held in more than one place in division, chairman to fix locality from which jurors shall be summoned.
5. Where any general quarter sessions of the peace or any civil bill court are or is held at more than one place in any division of a county, the chairman of such county shall within three months after the passing of this Act, by order under his hand and seal, direct that the jurors returned to serve as grand jurors or petit jurors at such general quarter sessions or civil bill court shall be resident within such petty sessions district or districts as may in his opinion be conveniently near to the place in which such sessions or court are or is held, and as are prescribed by such order, and he shall forthwith, after the making of such order, deliver the same to the clerk of the peace for such county, by whom it shall be duly filed in his office and preserved among the records of such county, and the clerk of the peace for such county shall forthwith transmit a copy of such order to the sheriff of such county for the time being, and to every succeeding sheriff of such county immediately after his appointment to his office of sheriff, and from and after the making and filing of such order in manner aforesaid the jurors at such courts shall be summoned in accordance therewith: Provided, however, that the chairman may from time to time vary such order.
6 Summoning of jurors.
6. Section twenty-one of the Juries (Ireland) Act, 1871, shall be and the same is hereby repealed, and in lieu thereof be it enacted, that, save as by the Juries (Ireland) Acts, 1871 to 1872, and by this Act expressly provided, the summons of every person to serve on any jury in any court shall be made four clear days at least before the day on which the attendance of such person shall be required by a constable or sub-constable of the Royal Irish Constabulary acting in and for the county or borough in which such person shall reside by delivering a summons to the person to be summoned, or in case he shall be absent from his usual place of abode, by leaving such summons with some person therein inhabiting, and every summons requiring the attendance of any person as a juror shall be duly and properly filled with the name of the juror, and shall be signed by the sheriff or other officer, previous to such summons being delivered to such constable...
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