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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
New South Wales
Jury Amendment Bill 2008
Contents
Page
1 Name of Act 2
2 Commencement 2
3 Amendment of Jury Act 1977 No 18 2
4 Amendment of Criminal Appeal Act 1912 No 16 2
5 Repeal of Act 2
Schedule 1 Amendment of Jury Act 1977 3
Schedule 2 Amendment of Criminal Appeal Act 1912 8
b2008-042-19.d14
New South Wales
Jury Amendment Bill 2008
No , 2008
A Bill for
An Act to amend the Jury Act 1977 with respect to the death and discharge of jurors
and to make related amendments to the Criminal Appeal Act 1912; and for other
purposes.
Clause 1 Jury Amendment Bill 2008
The Legislature of New South Wales enacts: 1
1 Name of Act 2
This Act is the Jury Amendment Act 2008. 3
2 Commencement 4
This Act commences on a day or days to be appointed by proclamation. 5
3 Amendment of Jury Act 1977 No 18 6
The Jury Act 1977 is amended as set out in Schedule 1. 7
4 Amendment of Criminal Appeal Act 1912 No 16 8
The Criminal Appeal Act 1912 is amended as set out in Schedule 2. 9
5 Repeal of Act 10
(1) This Act is repealed on the day following the day on which all of the 11
provisions of this Act have commenced. 12
(2) The repeal of this Act does not, because of the operation of section 30 13
of the Interpretation Act 1987, affect any amendment made by this Act. 14
Page 2
Jury Amendment Bill 2008
Amendment of Jury Act 1977 Schedule 1
Schedule 1 Amendment of Jury Act 1977 1
(Section 3) 2
[1] Section 19 Number of jurors in criminal proceedings 3
Omit "In" from section 19 (1). 4
Insert instead "Except as provided by section 22, in". 5
[2] Section 20 Number of jurors in civil proceedings 6
Omit "Subject" from section 20 (1). 7
Insert instead "Except as provided by section 22 and subject". 8
[3] Section 20 (2) 9
Insert ", except as provided by section 22," after "shall". 10
[4] Section 21 Number of jurors in coronial inquests 11
Omit "The". Insert instead "Except as provided by section 22, the". 12
[5] Section 22 Continuation of trial or inquest on death or discharge of juror 13
Omit "whether as being through illness incapable of continuing to act or for 14
any other reason". 15
Insert instead "under Part 7A". 16
[6] Section 22 17
Omit "so orders". 18
Insert instead "orders that the trial or coronial inquest continue with a reduced 19
number of jurors under Part 7A". 20
[7] Part 7A 21
Insert after Part 7: 22
Part 7A Discharge of jurors 23
53A Mandatory discharge of individual juror 24
(1) The court or coroner must discharge a juror if, in the course of 25
any trial or coronial inquest: 26
(a) it is found that the juror was mistakenly or irregularly 27
empanelled, whether because the juror was disqualified or 28
ineligible to serve as a juror or was otherwise not returned 29
and selected in accordance with this Act, or 30
Page 3
Jury Amendment Bill 2008
Schedule 1 Amendment of Jury Act 1977
(b) the juror becomes disqualified from serving, or ineligible 1
to serve, as a juror, or 2
(c) the juror has engaged in misconduct in relation to the trial 3
or coronial inquest. 4
(2) In this section: 5
misconduct, in relation to a trial or coronial inquest, means: 6
(a) conduct that constitutes an offence against this Act, or 7
Note. For example, under section 68C it is an offence for a juror 8
to make certain inquiries except in the proper exercise of his or 9
her functions as a juror. 10
(b) any other conduct that, in the opinion of the court or 11
coroner, gives rise to the risk of a substantial miscarriage 12
of justice in the trial or inquest. 13
53B Discretionary discharge of individual juror 14
The court or coroner may, in the course of any trial or coronial 15
inquest, discharge a juror if: 16
(a) the juror (though able to discharge the duties of a juror) 17
has, in the judge's or coroner's opinion, become so ill or 18
infirm as to be likely to become ineligible to serve as a 19
juror before the jury delivers their verdict or has become so 20
ill as to be a health risk to other jurors or persons present at 21
the trial or coronial inquest, or 22
Note. Under clause 12 of Schedule 2, a juror who because of 23
sickness or infirmity is unable to discharge the duties of a juror is 24
ineligible to serve as a juror. 25
(b) it appears to the court or coroner (from the juror's own 26
statements or from evidence before the court or coroner) 27
that the juror may not be able to give impartial 28
consideration to the case because of the juror's familiarity 29
with the witnesses, parties or legal representatives in the 30
trial or coronial inquest, any reasonable apprehension of 31
bias or conflict of interest on the part of the juror or any 32
similar reason, or 33
(c) a juror refuses to take part in the jury's deliberations, or 34
(d) it appears to the court or coroner that, for any other reason 35
affecting the juror's ability to perform the functions of a 36
juror, the juror should not continue to act as a juror. 37
Note. Section 22 provides for the continuation of a trial or inquest on the 38
death or discharge of a juror. 39
Page 4
Jury Amendment Bill 2008
Amendment of Jury Act 1977 Schedule 1
53C Discretion to continue trial or coronial inquest or discharge whole 1
jury 2
(1) If a juror dies, or the court or coroner discharges a juror in the 3
course of a trial or coronial inquest, the court or coroner must: 4
(a) discharge the jury if the court or coroner is of the opinion 5
that to continue the trial or coronial inquest with the 6
remaining jurors would give rise to the risk of a substantial 7
miscarriage of justice, or 8
(b) if of the opinion that there is no such risk and subject to 9
section 22, order that the trial or coronial inquest continue 10
with a reduced number of jurors. 11
(2) A court or coroner that discharges a jury under subsection (1) (a) 12
may stay the proceedings on such terms as the court or coroner 13
thinks fit if a party gives notice of an intention to lodge an 14
application for leave to appeal for review of the decision under 15
section 5G of the Criminal Appeal Act 1912. 16
(3) Where a jury in civil proceedings is discharged under this section, 17
the proceedings may, without any new process for that purpose, 18
be set down for trial either at the same or any subsequent sittings, 19
as the court may order. 20
[8] Section 73 Verdict not invalidated in certain cases 21
Omit section 73 (a). Insert instead: 22
(a) that any juror was, after being required by summons to 23
attend for jury service, mistakenly or irregularly 24
empanelled, whether because the juror was disqualified 25
from serving, or was ineligible to serve, as a juror or was 26
otherwise not returned and selected in accordance with this 27
Act, or 28
Note. For example, this paragraph prevents the verdict of a jury 29
from being invalid if, as in R v Brown & Tran [2004] NSWCCA 30
324, a juror who received a jury summons reported for service a 31
day early and was mistakenly empanelled. 32
(a1) that any juror became disqualified from serving or 33
ineligible to serve as a juror in the course of the trial or 34
coronial inquest, or 35
[9] Section 73 (b) 36
Insert "or" after "Act,". 37
Page 5
Jury Amendment Bill 2008
Schedule 1 Amendment of Jury Act 1977
[10] Section 73 (2) 1
Insert at the end of section 73: 2
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply: 3
(a) in respect of a juror if the juror impersonated, or is 4
suspected of impersonating, another person, or 5
(b) if there is evidence of any other attempt to deliberately 6
manipulate the composition of the jury. 7
[11] Section 73A Investigation by sheriff of jury irregularities 8
Insert "(including a report under section 75C)" after "reason" in section 9
73A (1). 10
[12] Section 75C 11
Insert after section 75B: 12
75C Juror may report misconduct and other irregularities 13
(1) A juror who in the course of the trial or coronial inquest has 14
reasonable grounds to suspect any irregularity in relation to 15
another juror's membership of the jury, or in relation to the 16
performance of the other juror's functions as a juror, may 17
disclose the suspicion and the grounds on which it is held to the 18
court or coroner. 19
(2) A former juror who has reasonable grounds to suspect any 20
irregularity in relation to another former juror's membership of 21
the jury on which they served or in relation to the performance of 22
the other former juror's functions as a juror on that jury, may 23
disclose the suspicion and the grounds on which it is held to the 24
sheriff. 25
(3) Section 68B (1) does not prohibit a juror from making a 26
disclosure under this section. 27
(4) In this section: 28
irregularity, in relation to a juror's membership of a jury, or the 29
performance of the juror's functions as a juror, means the 30
following: 31
(a) the commission by the juror of an offence under this Act or 32
any other misconduct, 33
(b) a juror becoming disqualified from serving, or ineligible to 34
serve, as a juror, 35
(c) the refusal of the juror to take part in the jury's 36
deliberations, 37
Page 6
Jury Amendment Bill 2008
Amendment of Jury Act 1977 Schedule 1
(d) the juror's lack of capacity to take part in the trial or 1
coronial inquest (including an inability to speak or 2
comprehend English), 3
(e) the juror's inability to be impartial because of the juror's 4
familiarity with the witnesses, parties or legal 5
representatives in the trial or coronial inquest, any 6
reasonable apprehension of bias or conflict of interest on 7
the part of the juror, or any similar reason. 8
[13] Schedule 8 Transitional and savings provisions 9
Insert at the end of clause 1A (1): 10
Jury Amendment Act 2008 11
[14] Schedule 8, Part 11 12
Insert after Part 10: 13
Part 11 Transitional and savings provisions 14
consequent on enactment of Jury 15
Amendment Act 2008 16
20 Pending trials and inquests 17
An amendment made by the Jury Amendment Act 2008 applies to 18
and in respect of any jury empanelled in a trial or coronial inquest 19
after the commencement of the amendment. 20
Page 7
Jury Amendment Bill 2008
Schedule 2 Amendment of Criminal Appeal Act 1912
Schedule 2 Amendment of Criminal Appeal Act 1912 1
(Section 4) 2
[1] Section 5G 3
Insert after section 5F: 4
5G Appeal against discharge of whole jury 5
(1) The Attorney General, Director of Public Prosecutions or any 6
other party to a trial of criminal proceedings before a jury may 7
appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeal for review of any decision 8
by the court to discharge the jury, but only with the leave of the 9
Court of Criminal Appeal. 10
(2) The Court of Criminal Appeal is to deal with an appeal as soon 11
as possible after the application for leave to appeal is lodged. 12
(3) The Court of Criminal Appeal: 13
(a) may affirm or vacate the decision appealed against, and 14
(b) if it vacates the decision, may make some other decision 15
instead of the decision appealed against. 16
(4) If leave to appeal under this section is refused by the Court of 17
Criminal Appeal, the refusal does not preclude any other appeal 18
following a conviction on the matter to which the refused 19
application for leave to appeal related. 20
(5) This section does not apply to the discharge of a jury under 21
section 51, 55E, 56 or 58 of the Jury Act 1977. 22
[2] Schedule 1 Savings and transitional provisions 23
Insert at the end of the Schedule: 24
13 Jury Amendment Act 2008 25
Section 5G, as inserted by the Jury Amendment Act 2008, applies 26
to and in respect of a decision of a court concerning a jury 27
empanelled after the commencement of the section. 28
Page 8
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