The Juries (Northern Ireland) Order 1996

Miscellaneous and supplementary

Juror’s oath

27.—(1) The Lord Chancellor may by order provide that the oath administered to and taken by a juror in any court specified in the order shall be in such form as may be so specified.

(2) An order under paragraph (1) shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament in like manner as a statutory instrument and section 5 of the [1946 c. 36] Statutory Instruments Act 1946 shall apply accordingly.

(3) Paragraph (1) is without prejudice to the provisions of the [1978 c. 19] Oaths Act 1978.

Payments to be made in respect of jury service

28.—(1) Subject to the following provisions of this Article, a person who serves as a juror shall be entitled, in respect of his attendance at court for the purpose of performing jury service, to receive payments, at rates determined by the Lord Chancellor with the consent of the Treasury and subject to any prescribed conditions, by way of allowance—

(a) for travelling and subsistence; and

(b) for financial loss, where in consequence of his attendance for that purpose he has incurred any expenditure (otherwise than on travelling and subsistence) to which he would not otherwise be subject or he has suffered any loss of earnings, or of benefit under the enactments relating to social security, which he would otherwise have made or received.

(2) The determination of the amounts payable to persons under paragraph (1) and the manner of making those payments shall be in accordance with arrangements made by the Lord Chancellor.

(3) In paragraph (1) “prescribed” means prescribed with the consent of the Treasury; and for the purposes of that paragraph a person who, in obedience to a summons to serve on a jury, attends for service as a juror shall be deemed to serve as a juror notwithstanding that he is not subsequently sworn.

(4) No person shall be entitled under any statutory provision other than this Order or under any rule of law, custom or agreement to payment for his service as a juror.

Certain formal defects not to invalidate verdict or finding

29.  No verdict or finding in any proceedings whatsoever (whether criminal or civil) shall be invalidated or impeached by reason only that a person who was sworn as a member of or served on the jury in those proceedings was—

(a) disqualified, ineligible or not qualified for serving; or

(b) misnamed or misdescribed;

or that his name was not contained in the Jurors List.

Regulations

30.—(1) The Lord Chancellor may make regulations for the purposes of this Order and may in particular prescribe anything which is to be prescribed under any provision of this Order and such regulations may make provision for forms to be used for the purposes of this Order.

(2) Regulations made under this Order shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament in like manner as a statutory instrument and section 5 of the [1946 c. 36] Statutory Instruments Act 1946 shall apply accordingly.

Coroners' juries

31.—(1) This Order, except Articles 12 to 22, shall apply to coroners' juries.

(2) The provisions of this Order which apply to coroners' juries shall have effect subject to the modifications set out in Part I of Schedule 4 and to such other modifications as are required for the purposes of paragraph (1).

(3) The [1959 c. 15 (N.I.)] Coroners Act (Northern Ireland) 1959 shall be amended in accordance with Part II of Schedule 4.

Amendments, repeals and saving

32.—(1) In section 1 of the [1971 c. 37 (N.I.)] Criminal Procedure (Majority Verdicts) Act (Northern Ireland) 1971, for subsection (1) there shall be substituted the following subsection—

“(1) Subject to the following provisions of this section, the verdict of a jury in criminal proceedings need not be unanimous if—

(a) in a case where there are not less than eleven jurors, ten of them agree on the verdict; and

(b) in a case where there are ten jurors, nine of them agree on the verdict.

(1A) A verdict agreed upon as described in subsection (1) is in this section referred to as “a majority verdict”.”.

(2) In Schedule 5 to the [1984 NI 3] Fines and Penalties (Northern Ireland) Order 1984 (fines or other sums that may be altered by order of the Secretary of State) there shall be added at the end the following entry—

“Juries (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 (NI)

Article 26 (defaulting jurors)

£1,000”.

(3) The statutory provisions specified in Schedule 5 are hereby repealed or revoked to the extent specified in the third column of that Schedule.

(4) Nothing in this Order except Articles 14(1) and 22 shall prejudice any power to make rules of court.