Section 99 – Jury service
169.Section 99 provides for the alignment of age limits for jury service for jurors in civil cases with those for jurors in criminal cases, i.e. it removes the upper age limit for jurors in civil cases of 65 years of age. It does this through an amendment to the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1980 (as amended by the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010). Section 99 also brings arrangements for claiming excusal as of right from civil jury service into line with those established for criminal jury service by the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010, that is, that civil jurors aged 71 or over could claim excusal as of right. Jurors serving in criminal cases who attended for jury service but did not serve had their automatic excusal time shortened from five years to two years by the 2010 Act, and this is now applied to jurors serving in civil cases.
