Juries (Amendment) Act, 1924

• Permanent Page URL

Number 18 of 1924.

JURIES (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1924.

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

SCHEDULE

Number 18 of 1924.

JURIES (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1924.

AN ACT TO AMEND THE LAW RELATING TO JURIES AND IN CONNECTION THEREWITH TO AMEND THE ELECTORAL ACT, 1923 . [23rd May, 1924.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS OF SAORSTAT EIREANN AS FOLLOWS:—

Register of electors to include lists of jurors.

1.—(1) The register of electors to be prepared pursuant to the Electoral Act, 1923 , shall, in addition to the matters required by that Act to be shown therein, show in the prescribed manner in respect of each person whose name appears therein whether he is or is not qualified and liable to serve as a special juror or as a general juror or is disqualified or exempted from serving as a juror.

(2) It shall be the duty of the registration officer to include and identify in the prescribed manner in the electors lists to be prepared by him pursuant to the Electoral Act, 1923 , the names of all persons in each registration unit in his registration area appearing to be qualified and liable to serve as special jurors or general jurors or to be disqualified or exempted from so serving.

(3) All the provisions of the Electoral Act, 1923 , in relation to claims to be entered in the register, objections to the electors lists and corrections of the electors lists shall (save as otherwise provided by this Act) apply to the matters required by this Act to be included in the register and in the electors lists respectively in like manner as those provisions apply to the matters required by the Electoral Act, 1923 , to be included in the register and electors lists respectively.

(4) The several lists of claimants, of persons to whose registration notice of objection has been given, and of claimants to whose registration notice of objection has been given, prepared by a registration officer pursuant to the Electoral Act, 1923 , shall distinguish in the prescribed manner which of the persons whose names are included in such lists appear to be qualified and liable to serve as special jurors or as general jurors or to be disqualified or exempted from so serving.

(5) This section shall not apply to a university constituency or to the registration officer, register of electors, or electors lists for such constituency.

Avoidance of duplicate entries.

2.—Where a person whose name is entered in the register of electors as a Dáil, Seanad, or Local Government elector in any registration unit is qualified and liable to serve as a juror in the administrative county or county borough in which such registration unit is situate, the entry of his said qualification and liability to serve as a juror shall be made in the register of electors for the registration unit aforesaid, notwithstanding that his qualification and liability to serve as a juror may be in respect of other lands, tenements, hereditaments, or premises than those at which his address as stated in the said register is situate.

Certain women may be exempted from serving as jurors.

3.—(1) Every woman to whom this section applies who is qualified and liable to serve as a juror in any administrative county or county borough shall be entitled, if she so desires, to be entered in the register of electors for the registration area comprising such administrative county or county borough as exempt from serving as a juror and while so entered shall be exempted from so serving.

(2) This section applies to unmarried women and to widows, and also to married women whose husbands are qualified and liable to serve as jurors in the same administrative county or county borough as that in which such women are themselves so qualified and liable.

Disqualification of persons who are not electors.

4.—In addition to the persons now disqualified for serving on juries, any person who is not registered as a Dáil or Local Government elector shall be absolutely disqualified from serving on any jury or inquest (other than an inquest held by a coroner by virtue of his office), and the names of such persons shall not be inserted in any jurors books or jurors lists.

Appeals in relation to jurors lists to be to District Courts.

5.—(1) No appeal shall lie under Section 16 of the Electoral Act, 1923 (No. 12 of 1923), from any decision of the registration officer in relation to any matter required by this Act to be included in the register, and in lieu of such appeal, an appeal shall lie to the District Justice having jurisdiction in the registration area from any decision of the registration officer on any question of law or fact in relation to any matter required by this Act to be included in the register, and such appeal may be brought although the appellant did not appear before, or send any claim or objection to, the registration officer.

(2) Where the appellant did not appear before, or send any claim or objection to, the registration officer, the appeal under this section shall be brought before the 26th day of April next after the decision of the registration officer is given, and in every other case the appeal under this section shall be brought within seven days after the decision of the registration officer is given.

(3) The qualification and liability of an appellant to serve as a juror shall not be affected by the fact that an appeal is pending under this section, and until such appeal is finally disposed of the qualification and liability aforesaid shall continue as if no such appeal had been brought.

(4) In this section the expression “District Justice” includes a Divisional Justice of the Police District of Dublin Metropolis.

Preparation of general lists of jurors.

6.—(1) The precept to be issued by the clerk of the peace pursuant to Section 8 of the Juries (Ireland) Act, 1871, shall be issued and delivered on or before the 15th day of November in every year to the secretary of the county council, the town clerk of every county or other borough, and the clerk of every urban district council within his administrative county or county borough, and shall be in such form as shall from time to time be prescribed by the Minister for Home Affairs.

(2) The general lists of jurors to be prepared and returned pursuant to the precepts aforesaid shall be in such form as shall be prescribed, and shall mark or distinguish in the prescribed manner the names of persons qualified and liable to serve as special jurors, and shall be made out for each registration unit in the administrative county or county borough, and the names in such lists shall be arranged in the like order as the names on the register of electors for that registration unit are for the time being required by law to be arranged.

Date on which jurors books come into use.

7.—So much of Sections 13 and 14 of the Juries (Ireland) Act, 1871, as provides that the clerk of the peace shall, on or before the 1st day of January in every year, deliver the general jurors book and special jurors book mentioned in that section to the sheriff of the county, and that the said books shall be brought into use on the first day of Hilary term next after they shall have been so delivered, is hereby repealed, and in lieu thereof it is hereby enacted that the clerk of the peace shall deliver the said general jurors book and special jurors book to the under-sheriff of the county or county borough on or before the 15th day of July in every year, and the said books shall be brought into use on the first day of Michaelmas term next after they shall have been so delivered.

Expenses of execution of Act.

8.—(1) The expenses of the execution of this Act shall be paid, in the case of an administrative county, by the council of that county out of the poor-rate as a county-at-large charge, and in the case of a county borough, by the council of that county borough out of the rate or fund out of which the general expenses of the council are paid, or out of any other rate or fund which the Minister for Local Government may, on the application of the council, approve.

(2) No secretary οr clerk of the council of a county or county borough, clerk of an urban district council, or rate-collector or person acting as rate-collector appointed after the 15th day of November, 1923, shall receive any fees or other remuneration or any expenses in respect of duties performed by him in execution of the Juries (Ireland) Acts, 1871 to 1894, as amended by this Act.

Amendment of Section 12 of Electoral Act, 1923.

9.—(1) Sub-section (5) of Section 12 of the Electoral Act, 1923 (No. 12 of 1923), is hereby repealed, and in lieu thereof it is enacted that there shall be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas to the council of every county or county borough in aid of the fund or rate out of which any registration expenses are paid by that council in accordance with the said Act, the following proportions of the registration expenses so paid, that is to say—

(a) one-fourth of the amount paid by the council to the registration officer in respect of duties performed by any of the following officers who has or shall have been appointed after the 15th day of November, 1923, that is to say, in the case of an administrative county, the secretary of the council of the county or the clerk of the council of any urban district within the county, and, in the case of a county borough, the secretary or clerk of the council of the county borough, and

(b) one-third of the amount paid by the council to the registration officer in respect of duties performed by rate-collectors appointed after the 15th day of November, 1923, and

(c) one-half of all other registration expenses paid by the council aforesaid.

(2) So much of Sub-section (7) of Section 12 of the Electoral Act, 1923 (No. 12 of 1923), as enacts that one-half of the cost of the printing mentioned in the said sub-section shall be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, and the other half thereof shall be paid by the council mentioned in the said sub-section, is hereby repealed, and in lieu thereof it is hereby enacted that three-sevenths of the cost of the printing mentioned in the said sub-section shall be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, and four-sevenths of the said costs shall be paid by the council by which the registration expenses of which such printing forms part are payable.

Difficulty and emergency orders.

10.—(1) If any difficulty shall arise in the execution of this Act during the year 1924 the Minister for Local Government may by Order do any matter or thing which appears to him to be necessary for the proper execution of this Act during that year.

(2) Sub-section (2) of Section 62 of the Electoral Act, 1923 (No. 12 of 1923), shall apply to the preparation of the register of electors in relation to the matters required by this Act to be included in such register in like manner as the said sub-section applies to the preparation of such register under that Act.

Adaptation of enactments.

11.—The Executive Council may, by Order, make such adaptations in the provisions of any Act (including any local Act and any Act to confirm a Provisional Order), as may seem to them necessary to make those provisions conform with the provisions of this Act, and any Order so made shall operate as if enacted in this Act.

Interpretation.

12.—Every expression relating to registration, electors, or elections used in this Act which is also used in the Electoral Act, 1923 (No. 12 of 1923), shall, if not otherwise defined in this Act, have the same meaning as such expression has in the Electoral Act, 1923 .

Repeals.

13.—The enactments mentioned in the Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column of that Schedule.

Short title, construction, and commencement.

14.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Juries (Amendment) Act, 1924.

(2) This Act shall be construed as one with the Juries (Ireland) Acts, 1871 to 1894, and those Acts and this Act may be cited together as the Juries Acts, 1871 to 1924.

(3) This Act shall be deemed to have come into force on and shall take effect as on and from the 15th day of November, 1923.

SCHEDULE.

Enactments Repealed.