SELECTING A GRAND JURY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13846, 4 September 1908, Page 7

SELECTING A GRAND JURY.

A COMPLICATED PROCESS. The method of selecting men to serve on the grand jury is a more complicated affair than is generally believed. It evidently originated many years ago, when grand juries were more useful than, they are now, and when class distinctions were regarded as natural concomitants of the social system. ..,,.■ , Tho constitution of this body dates back to the year 1880, when the Legislature of the Dominion passed the" Juries which with some slight amendments is still in force, and which sets forth, in-minute de-. tail the steps that have to be taken before a grand jury is called together. A jury district is formed at each centre where the Supreme Court sits. It extends over a radius of 10 miles from I the courthouse. The jury officer issues a warrant to a constable announcing that he , wishes a jury list to be prepared. The constable, prepares* in.alphabetical order, a "true list of all men residing within the limits mentioned in the warrant qualified and liable to serve on juries, with their true places of abode, title, quality, calling or business." The constable goes from house to house to collect names for his list, and when it is completed he submits it to a meeting of justices of the peace, where it is revised and altered if necessary. The list is returned to the jury officer. He sends it to the registrar of the Supreme Court, who enters into his jury book the names of all those on the list who are described as "esquires, gentlemen, merchants, managers of banks, civil engineers, architects, ; and other persons who shall be known to him to be of the best condition," go that he will have a sufficient number for hie purpose. There might be 200 or 300 names selected. Against each name on this special list there is a number, and small pieces of parchment, equal in numbers to the names on the list, and each piece # with a different number on it, are placed in a box. When the time comes to arrange for the grand jury to be summoned, the registrar draws from the box a number of parchments, not less than 24 and not more than. 30. From the numbers on these parchments he prepares a list of names from his special list, and he calls upon the men represented .to attend at the sitting crt the Coiirt to serve on the grand jury.. In Court, he has a small box containing cards bearing the names of the men selected by the ballot. He is supposed to shake the box, and pick out 23 names, which will be the names of the members of the grand jury. ; Members of common juries are not called upon to serve twice in the same jury year, but this does not always apply to members of grand juries, and there is no provision to prevent a member of a grand jury from being called upon to serve also on a common jury.