Juries (Amendment) Act 2002 (Vic)

Juries (Amendment) Act 2002

Act No. 43/2002

TABLE OF PROVISIONS

Section Page

1.	Purpose	1
2.	Commencement	2
3.	Appeal against decision of Juries Commissioner	2
4.	Jury districts	3
5.	Preparation of jury rolls	3
6.	Calling of panel	4
7.	Failure to reach unanimous verdict in civil trials	4
8.	Remission of fines for failing to attend for jury service or as
a juror	4
9.	Persons disqualified from serving as jurors	5
10.	Persons ineligible to serve as jurors	5
11.	Saving provisions—persons disqualified or ineligible to serve
as jurors	6

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ENDNOTES 7

i

Victoria

No. 43 of 2002

Juries (Amendment) Act 2002†

[Assented to 15 October 2002]

The Parliament of Victoria enacts as follows:

1. Purpose

The purpose of this Act is to amend the Juries

Act 2000—

(a)	to lengthen the period of time within which appeals may be made against certain decisions of the Juries Commissioner;
(b)	to give the court discretion as to whether or not to call out the names of a panel;
(c)	to provide for areas of the State to be assigned as jury districts;

Juries (Amendment) Act 2002

Act No. 43/2002 s. 2

(d)	to provide for majority verdicts in civil trials with reduced juries of 5 jurors;
(e)	to enable the court to remit a fine imposed on a person who has a reasonable excuse for failing to attend for jury service or failing to attend as a juror;
(f)	to clarify provisions relating to persons disqualified or ineligible to serve as jurors.

2. Commencement

(1) This section and section 1 come into operation on

the day after the day on which this Act receives

the Royal Assent.

(2) Section 5(2) comes into operation on—

(a)	the day after the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent; or
(b)	the day on which the Electoral Act 2002 comes into operation—

whichever is the later day.

(3) Subject to sub-section (4), the remaining

provisions of this Act come into operation on a

day or days to be proclaimed.

(4) If a provision of this Act referred to in sub-section

(3) does not come into operation before
1 November 2002, it comes into operation on that

day.

3. Appeal against decision of Juries Commissioner

See:

In section 10 of the Juries Act 2000, for sub-	Act No.
section (1) substitute—	53/2000 and
"(1) A person aggrieved by a decision of the	amending Act Nos

Juries Commissioner under section 7, 8 or 9	78/2000 and
may appeal against the decision at any time	61/2001. LawToday:
before the person becomes a member of a
panel.".	dpc.vic. gov.au

Juries (Amendment) Act 2002

s. 4 Act No. 43/2002

4. Jury districts

In section 18 of the Juries Act 2000—

(a)

in sub-section (2), for "comprising the Assembly" substitute "of the State";

(b) in sub-section (3), for "electoral districts for the Legislative Assembly" substitute "an area of the State".

5. Preparation of jury rolls

(1) In section 19 of the Juries Act 2000, for sub-

section (2) substitute—

"(2) On receipt of a notification under sub-section

soon as practicable, select from the electoral
rolls referred to in section 58 of The

(1), the Electoral Commissioner must, as number of persons required for the jury service period who—

(a)	are enrolled in respect of an address in that jury district; and
(b)	are apparently qualified and liable for jury service.".

(2) In section 19(2) of the Juries Act 2000, as

proposed to be substituted by sub-section (1) of

this section—

(a)	for "Electoral Commissioner" substitute "Victorian Electoral Commission";
(b)	for "electoral rolls referred to in section 58 of The Constitution Act Amendment Act 1958" substitute "register of electors established and maintained under section 21 of the Electoral Act 2002".

Juries (Amendment) Act 2002

Act No. 43/2002 s. 6

6. Calling of panel

In section 31(1) of the Juries Act 2000, for
"must" substitute "may, if so directed by the
court".

7. Failure to reach unanimous verdict in civil trials In section 47 of the Juries Act 2000, for sub- sections (1) and (2) substitute—

'(1) In this section, "majority verdict" means—

(a)	if, at the time of returning its verdict, the jury consists of 6 jurors—a verdict on which 5 of them agree;
(b)	if, at the time of returning its verdict, the jury consists of 5 jurors—a verdict on which 4 of them agree.

(2) If the jury in a civil trial has not reached a

unanimous verdict after at least 3 hours
deliberation, the court may, subject to
sub-section (3), take a majority verdict as the
verdict of the jury.

(2A) If, after deliberating for at least 6 hours, the

jury in a civil trial is unable to agree on a
majority verdict, the judge may discharge the
jury.'.

8.  Remission of fines for failing to attend for jury service or as a juror

(1) In section 81 of the Juries Act 2000, after sub-

section (2) insert—

"(2A) The court may remit a fine imposed on a

person under sub-section (1)(a) or (b) if the
person satisfies the court within 21 days after
the imposition of the fine that he or she has a
reasonable excuse for failing to attend for
jury service.".

Juries (Amendment) Act 2002

s. 9 Act No. 43/2002

(2) In section 81 of the Juries Act 2000, after sub-

section (3) insert—

"(4) The court may remit a fine imposed on a person under sub-section (3) if the person satisfies the court within 21 days after the imposition of the fine that he or she has a reasonable excuse for failing to attend as a

juror.".

9. Persons disqualified from serving as jurors

(1) In clause 2 of Schedule 1 to the Juries Act

2000—

(a) for paragraph (a) substitute—

"(a) sentenced to imprisonment for a term or

terms in the aggregate of 3 months or
more (excluding a suspended sentence

of imprisonment); or";

(b) in paragraph (b), before "detained" insert "ordered to be".

(2) In clause 3 of Schedule 1 to the Juries Act

2000—

(a)	in paragraph (a), for "imprisoned" substitute "sentenced to imprisonment";
(b)	in paragraph (b), before "detained" insert "ordered to be".

10. Persons ineligible to serve as jurors

In clause 1 of Schedule 2 to the Juries Act 2000, for paragraph (f) substitute—

"(f) a person employed or engaged (whether on a paid or
voluntary basis) in the public sector within the
meaning of the Public Sector Management and
Employment Act 1998 in law enforcement, criminal
investigation, the provision of legal services in
criminal cases, the administration of justice or penal
administration;".

Juries (Amendment) Act 2002

Act No. 43/2002 s. 11

11.  Saving provisions—persons disqualified or ineligible to serve as jurors

In Schedule 6 to the Juries Act 2000, after clause 11 insert—

"12. Persons disqualified from serving as jurors

The amendments to Schedule 1 made by section 9 of the Juries (Amendment) Act 2002 applies only to juries empanelled on or after the commencement of section 9 of that Act.

13.  Persons ineligible to serve as jurors

The amendments to Schedule 2 made by section 10 of the Juries (Amendment) Act 2002 applies only to juries empanelled on or after the commencement of section 10 of that Act.".

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Juries (Amendment) Act 2002

Endnotes Act No. 43/2002

ENDNOTES

†

Minister's second reading speech—

Legislative Assembly: 9 May 2002

Legislative Council: 8 October 2002

The long title for the Bill for this Act was "to amend the Juries Act 2000
and for other purposes."