An Act to amend the Laws relating to the Qualification of Jurors in Ireland.
W HEREAS by the Julies (Ireland) Acts, 1871 to 1872, the laws relating to juries in Ireland were amended and consolidated:
And whereas it is expedient that other and further provisions should be made to alter and raise the qualification of jurors, and that such provisions should continue in force during the limited period by this Act prescribed:
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 as ‘TheJurors Qualification (Ireland) Act, 1876,’ and the Juries (Ireland) Acts, 1871 to 1872, as amended by this and any other Act, and this Act may be cited together as ‘the Juries (Ireland) Acts.’
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Qualification of jurors.2 Qualification of jurors.
2. The provisions in this section contained shall be in force and have effect with respect to the qualification of jurors from and after the eleventh day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven, and the said provisions shall be in lieu of and in substitution for the provisions of section five of the Juries Act, Ireland, 1871, and the said Act shall be read and construed as if they were therein substituted for the said section five.
Every man being a subject of the Queen, between the ages of twenty-one and sixty-five years, residing in any county or in any borough having a separate court of sessions of the peace, or a court of record for the trial of civil actions,
(1) (1.) Who shall have in his own name or in trust for him a clear income of ten pounds by the year in lands and tenements of freehold tenure situate in such county or borough, or in rents issuing out of any such lands or tenements, or in such lands, tenements, and rents taken together, in fee simple, or fee tail, or for any life or lives whatsoever; or
(2) (2.) Who shall have a clear income of twenty pounds by the year in lands or tenements situate in such county or borough, held by lease originally made for an absolute term of not less than twenty-one years, whether the same shall or shall not be determinable on any life or lives; or
(3) (3.) Who shall be, either in his own name or as a member of a firm or copartnership, rated for the relief of the poor in respect of lands, tenements, or hereditaments within such county or borough, of the net annual value fixed for such county or borough in the first schedule to this Act; or
(4) (4.) Who shall be a director or manager of any banking, railway, insurance, steamship, shipping, or other company incorporated by any charter, or by or under the provisions of any Act of Parliament, and carrying on any such business within such county or borough; or
(5) (5.) Who shall be a member of any board of harbour commissioners or other body entrusted under the provisions of any Act of Parliament with the management of any harbour or docks within such county or borough;
shall if residing in any such county as aforesaid be qualified and liable (save as exempted or disqualified) to serve on all juries for the trial of all issues, civil and criminal, joined in any of the Queen's courts of law and equity and triable in such county, and shall also be qualified and liable (save as exempted or disqualified) to serve on grand juries at the general sessions of the peace within such county, and on every inquest or inquiry to be taken or made in such county by or before any sheriff or coroner, or by or before any master or commissioner appointed by any of the superior courts of common law or equity, or by or before any commissioner appointed under the great seal or the seal of the Court of Exchequer, and shall if residing in any such borough as aforesaid be qualified and liable (save as exempted or disqualified) to serve on grand juries at sessions of the peace in such borough, and also upon juries for the trial of all issues, civil and criminal, joined in any court of sessions of the peace, and in any court of record for the trial of civil actions, triable in such borough: Provided always, that for the purposes of this Act, as regards any county of a city, county of a town, or borough, having a separate court of sessions of the peace or a court of record for the trial of civil actions, any such director, manager, member of such board or body so entrusted as aforesaid, and any other such person as aforesaid, shall be deemed to be resident therein in case he, or the company of which he shall be a director or manager, or the board or body of which he shall be such member as aforesaid, shall have or occupy a counting-house, office, shop, or place of business in such county of a city, county of a town, or borough as aforesaid, although such director, manager, member of such board or body so entrusted as aforesaid, or other such person, may not actually reside therein, provided that he resides within twelve statute miles of the court house of such county of a city, county of a town, or borough as aforesaid, and in the county of the city of Dublin within a like distance of the General Post Office in Dublin, to be computed by the nearest public road or way. And such counting-house, office, shop, or place of business shall in the proper column of ‘The General List of Jurors,’ and ‘List of Special Jurors,’ containing such directors, managers, members, or person's name, be stated as the place of abode of such person, and a summons for the attendance of a juror left at the place stated in the general jurors' book or special jurors' book as the place of abode of such juror, with any person inhabiting therein, shall be deemed to have been duly served upon such juror.
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As to jurors property qualification.3 As to jurors property qualification.
3. In ascertaining the net annual value of the property qualification of a juror in the city of Dublin, mentioned in the first and second schedules to this Act, the annual value of any house or tenement, the owner whereof is under the sixty-third section of the Act 12 and 13 Victoria, chapter 91, rated instead of the occupier thereof, shall not be reckoned or taken into account.
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Clerk of the peace to prepare ‘lists ofspecial jurors.’4 Clerk of the peace to prepare ‘lists ofspecial jurors.’
4. The provisions in this section contained shall from and after the first day of August one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six, be in substitution for the provisions of section eleven of the Juries Act, Ireland, 1871, and the said Act shall be read and construed as if they were therein substituted for the said section eleven.
The clerk of the peace of every county in Ireland, on or before the fifteenth day of August in every year, shall, from each of the general lists of jurors furnished to him under the Juries (Ireland) Acts, cause to be made out for each barony of such county a true and complete list, in the Form O. set forth in the third schedule to this Act annexed, containing the names of every person contained in the list furnished to him as aforesaid for such barony.
Who shall be, either in his own name or as a member of a firm or copartnership, rated for the relief of the poor in respect of lands, tenements, or hereditaments within such county or borough, of the net annual value fixed for such county or borough in the second schedule to this Act;
And the names contained in each of the said lists to be made out by such clerk of the peace shall be arranged in alphabetical order of surnames and consecutively numbered, and each such list shall contain the like particulars in every respect as the lists furnished to him as aforesaid, and when so made out shall be called the ‘list of special jurors’ for the barony of the county for which the same shall have been made out, and such clerk of the peace shall, at the foot or end of every such ‘list of special jurors’ made out by him, sign a declaration that such ‘list of special jurors’ has been fully and correctly prepared by him from the ‘general list of jurors’ from which such ‘list of special jurors’ shall have been made out by him.
5 Form of precept.
5. The precepts of the several clerks of the peace for the return of lists of jurors to be issued under the Juries (Ireland) Acts after the passing of this Act shall be according to the forms in the third schedule to this Act annexed, and any person to whom any such precept shall be issued shall and is hereby directed to perform and comply with all the requisitions contained in such precept.
