THE NEW JURIES ACT.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 180, 17 November 1876, Page 3

THE NEW JURIES ACT.

The following is the amendment to the Juries Act passed during the last session of the Assembly : 1. The Short Title of this Act shall be "The Juries Act Amendment Act, 1876." 2. From and after the passing of thi3 Act, all officers in charge of stations, guards, engine-drivers, firemen, signalmen, and platform porters employed on or about any public railway, shall, during the period they are so employed, be exempted from serving upon any juries whatsoever, and shall not be summoned. The term " public railway " means and includes all railways used for the conveyance of passengers in or upon carriages drawn or impelled by steam. 3. If any person during the period he is so employed shall nevertheless be summoned to serve as a juror, the Judge or other person before whom he is sumI moned shall excuse and discharge such ! person from attendance in obedience to the terms of the summons, upon his producing or forwarding a certificate under the hand of the general manager appointed the Railway Regulation and Inspection Act, 1873, for any such public

t railway, stating that he ifl exem p* V."** ' e«.tinn f« £«.-* * certificate of exemption f give one containing any f'wj statement of fact, such person shall forfeit or pay a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds or less than five pounds ; and if any person shall claim exemption from serving as a juror by means of a certificate which he shall know to be false, or to contain any false statement of fact, such person shall forfeit and pay a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds and not less than ten pounds. . 5. The forty-fourth section the Juries Act, 18G8, is hereby repealed, and it is hereby enacted that from and after the passing of this Act an alien shall not be entitled to be tried by a jury de medictate lingua, but shall be triable in the same manner as if he were a natural-born subject. 6 Jurors after having been Bworn may, in the discretion of the judge, be allowed .-t any time before giving their verdict the use of a fire when out of Court, and be allowed reasonable refreshment, to be provided by the sheriff at the public expense. . , , 7 The Juries Act, 1871, is hereby repealed, and it is enacted that the verdict of not less than tliree-fourths of any jury ! empanelled to try any issues, or to inquire | of or assess damages in any civil cause, ! snail be taken accepted as, and shall have | all the consequences of, a verdict of any j such jury under the existing law relating ! to juries. . | Provided that no verdict not arrived at ! unanimously shall b* taken till the jury ! have retired for a period of at least three I hours, and at least three-fourth 3 have in- \ timated to the judge presiding at the trial I that the jury have considered their ver--1 diet, and that there is no probability of I their being unanimous.