Purpose Of Justices’ Meeting Clarified

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30555, 25 September 1964, Page 14

Purpose Of Justices’ Meeting Clarified

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, Sept. 24. As was required by the Juries Act, many thousands of persons had recently received notices of a meeting of justices to settle the jury roll, said the Minister of Justice (Mr Hanan) today. There appeared to be a fairly widespread misunderstanding about the purpose of the meeting and the grounds on which any person could attend and ask for exemption from jury service. Certain occupational groups, such as doctors, schoolteachers and clergymen, and persons who. were 65 years of age or over or who were physically handicapped were totally exempted from liability for jury service. Their names were accordingly not permitted to be included on the roll. In addition, women had an absolute right to seek exclusion from the roll. It was those people who were entitled to take advantage of the meeting of justices to ask for the removal of their names from the roll in any case where it had been included by mistake, Mr Hanan said. However, by far the greatest number was seeking

\ exemption on the ground of hardship or conscience. That might well entitle them to apply to the Court to be excused from service if later they were actually summoned to attend as jurors. It did not, however, give any person the right to be excluded from the roll.

The time to seek exemption from service because of personal hardship or conscience was on receipt of a summons from the Court to appear on a certain date.

The justices had no jurisdiction or discretion to deal with those cases at all, said Mr Hanan.