ONE JUROR SHORT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 207, 1 September 1932, Page 11

ONE JUROR SHORT.

HARE PROCEDURE ADOPTED. COURTBOOM DOORS LOCKED. i ! . ! BYSTANDERS CALLED UPON. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) HAMILTON, this day. Procedure which has been adopted on rare occasions only in New Zealand's judicial history was taken in - the Supreme Court at Hamilton yesterday afternoon when it was found that the entire jury panel had been exhausted and only eleven jurors were in the box. As soon as he discovered that the names were exhausted, the Court α-egktrar, Mr. (i. S. Clark, informed Mr. Justice Smith, who ordered "Tales de cireumstantibusi" a rare procedure which is traceable back to a statute of Henry VIII. The registrar ordered the doors of the courtroom to be locked and no one was allowed to leave. The sheriff then called upon all bystanders "present who resided within the jury district and were qualified to act to come forward and "ive their names, addresses and occupations. In the normal order of events these persons would be added to the jury panel, be duly 6worn and then balloted for in the usual manner to fill vacancies. However, it was found that all bystanders were either witnesses or interested in the case, and the registrar called upon Mr. S. W. Tallis, a Court messenger, to act on the jury. I Mr. Tallis was duly sworn, and as he was unchallenged by either counsel, he took his place with the other eleven -jurors.