Jury Laws Consolidation Act 1851 No 8a (NSW)

No. III.

An Act to amend in some respects the Act

passed to consolidate the Laws relating to

Jur ies . [1st December, 1851.]

WHEREAS the Act passed in the eleventh year of the reign of Her Majesty intituled " An Act to consolidate and amend the

Laws relative to Jurors and Juries in New South Wales" requires

amendment Be it therefore enacted by the Governor General of New South Wales by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof That after the passing of this Act the compensation to Jurors for attendance in the Supreme Court Circuit Courts and Courts of General or Quarter Sessions respectively instead of the sums mentioned in Schedule E of the said recited Act shall bo the sums mentioned in the Schedule to the present Act and that so long as any country Juror shall unavoidably or bond fide for the purpose only of attendance on the panel remain in the City or Town where the Court holds its sittings he shall be entitled to payment in respect of every day of such detention whether the Court shall actually then sit or not.

4. And be it enacted That after the passing of this Act every
precept for the summoning of Jurors returnable in the Supreme Court
or in any Circuit Court may be under the hand and seal of any Judge of

2. And be it enacted That where the Jury shall have sat on

the same trial in any civil case more than three days it shall be lawful for the presiding Judge to direct the prevailing party to pay them severally (or to the Sheriff or his deputy for their use) in respect of the fourth and every subsequent day such additional sum or sums (over and above the amount to which they shall be entitled under the Schedule) as the said Judge shall under the circumstances think reasonable and proper the same to be allowed eventually as costs in the cause.

3. And be it enacted That in every case where the amount required by the thirty-second section of the said recited Act shall have been paid to the Prothonotary and no trial or assessment shall even­ tually be had the amount so paid shall on demand be returned to the party having paid the same.

of the said Supreme Court and every such precept returnable in any Court of General or Quarter Sessions may be under the hand and seal of the Chairman or of any Justice of the Peace for the Colony.

5. And be i t enacted That no omission error or irregularity by the Sheriff or any of his officers i n the time or mode of service of any Ju ry summons or i n the summoning or return of any Juror or Jurors (where there shall be no question as to his or their identity) by a wrong name or names shall be cause of challenge either to the array or to any such Juror nor shall any matter which might have been objected by way of challenge (to the polls or to the array as the case may be) invalidate or affect any verdict in any case civil or criminal unless the objection shall have been taken by way of challenge.

6. And be it enacted That i t shall be lawful for the Sheriff in civil cases t o omit the summoning of persons whom he shall know to be dead or to be absent from the district or incapacitated by disease from attending as Jurymen Provided that he shall specially return to the Court the names of all such persons with the ground on which he has omitted t o serve them.

7. And be i t enacted That after the passing of this Act no Clerk t o any practising Barrister or Attorney shall be liable to serve on any Jury.

8. Whereas i t has been found to be unduly burdensome to

Special Jurors in the District of Sydney to attend as Jurors in Courts of General and Quarter Sessions as well as the Supreme Court in its several jurisdictions Be it enacted That from and after the passing of this Act no person whose name shall be and appear on the Special Ju ry List for the Jurors ' District of Sydney shall be liable or be compelled t o attend as a Juror in any Court of General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace in said Colony unless summoned under a Special Jury Precept.

9. And be it enacted That nothing in the aforesaid Act of the

eleventh year of Her Majesty shall be construed or taken to have repealed the several provisions or any of them respecting the issue and return of writs of inquiry and writs of trial and the trial of issues and assessment of damages under such writs respectively contained in the Act passed in the fourth year of Her Majesty's reign intituled "An Act to " provide for the more effectual Administration of Justice in New South

" Wales and its Dependencies"	and in the Act passed in the fifth year
of Her Majesty's reign intituled " An Act for the further	amendment

Act passed in the tenth year of Her Majesty's reign intituled " An Act of the Law and for the better advancement of Justice" and in the " to amend the Law respecting the recovery of Small Debts in all parts " of the Colony" but after the passing of this Act all such writs may be issued and returned and Assessors may be summoned and issues tried and damages assessed under such writs the same as if the said Act of the eleventh year of Her Majesty had not been passed.

1 0 . Provided always That the Assessors shall be summoned and

returned from among the class of Special Jurors residing within ten miles of the place where the trial or assessment shall be had and that they shall each be entitled to the sum of ten shillings as compensation for their attendance to be allowed together with the Commissioner's fee as costs in the cause.

1 1 . And be it enacted That at the request of either of the parties

in the cause any such writ may (if the Judge shall think fit) be in any case directed to and executed by any Barrister or Attorney who shall for the purposes of such writ be deemed a Commissioner within the meaning of the said several Acts and of this Act.

S C H E D U L E

SCHEDULE.

1st. Ju ro r s at tending under a General J u r y Precept— s. d.

If within three miles of the Court per diem . . . . . . . . . . . 2 6

If above three but not exceeding live miles per diem . . . . . . . 4 0

If above five miles per diem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 0

And for every mile of distance beyond such five miles . . . . . . 0 8

(i. e. 4d. each way but subject to the proviso in 11 Vic. No. 20 section 31.)

2nd. Ju ro r s at tending under a Common J u r y Precept—the same rates as above.

3rd. Ju ro r s at tending under a Special J u r y Precept whether of four or of twelve J u r o r s —

If within three miles of the Court per diem . . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	5	0
If above three bu t not exceeding five miles per diem	.	. . .	. . .	7	0

If above five miles per diem . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 0

And for every mile of distance beyond such five miles . . . . . . 1 0

(i. e. 6d. each way bu t subject to the proviso in the aforesaid 31st section.)

4 th . Ju ro r s at tending more than three days on the same Pane l—

If under a General J u r y Precept or Common J u r y Precept an

additional sum (for the fourth and every subsequent day) of . . . 2 6

If under a Special J u r y Precept an additional sum (for the fourth

and every subsequent day) of . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 5 0

If continuously on the same trial in any civil case such farther sum

(if any) as the presiding Judge shall direct under this Act s. 2.

5th. Bystanders sworn on any trial according to the class of Ju ro r s to which they belong—

either 4s. or 7s. 6d.