Juries Act 1962

This Act may be cited as the Juries Act 1962.

This Act shall come into operation on a date to be fixed by the

Attorney-General by notice in the Government Gazette of the

Northern Territory.

(1) The Acts of the State of South Australia specified in Part I of Schedule 1 are, in their application in the Northern Territory, repealed to the extent expressed in the third column of that Part.

capital offence means an offence the penalty for which under a law in force in the Territory is prescribed to be life imprisonment, with or without hard labour, and in respect of which the court imposing the sentence may not vary or mitigate the sentence and includes murder.

Chief Justice means Chief Justice within the meaning of the Supreme Court Act 1979.

Judge means a Supreme Court Judge.

jury list means the jury list for Darwin or the jury list for Alice Springs.

jury precept means a precept issued under section 24.

panel of jurors means a list of names prepared in pursuance of section 32(1).

reserve juror, in respect of a criminal trial, means a person chosen and returned under section 37A(1) as a reserve juror in respect of that trial.

roll means a roll within the meaning of the Electoral Act 2004.

talesman means a person appointed to serve as a juror under section 37(2A) or 39(2).

the Court means the Supreme Court.

the proper officer, in relation to the exercise of a power or the performance of a duty under this Act, means an officer of the Court appointed by a Judge as the proper officer for that purpose.

the Sheriff means the Sheriff of the Northern Territory.

Where, under a law in force in the Northern Territory, an offence prosecuted in the Court is required to be tried with a jury, the jury shall consist of 12 jurors who shall be chosen and returned in accordance with this Act.

Civil proceedings for defamation must be tried by the Court without a jury.

(1) Where the Court makes an order under section 7(3), on the application of a party to a civil issue, that party shall pay to the sheriff the prescribed fee.

(2) The regulations may prescribe amounts to be paid in respect of the prescribed fee:

(3) If an amount so prescribed is not paid before the trial commences or resumes on any day (as the case requires), the Court may, if it thinks fit, allow further time not exceeding one hour after the commencement or resumption of the trial within which the amount may be paid by any party to the trial.

(4) If the amount is not paid before the trial commences or resumes on any day (as the case requires) or, if the Court allows further time, within the further time so allowed, the Court shall, if a jury has been empanelled, discharge the jury and the trial shall proceed without a jury, notwithstanding that the trial may have commenced with a jury.

(5) The Court may order that the amount of the prescribed fee paid by any party to a trial shall be costs in the cause.

(1) For the purposes of this section, a person who has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment has not completed the sentence:

(a) if he has been released from the custody of the Commissioner of Correctional Services on parole – until the expiration of the period of parole; or

(b) if the sentence has been wholly or partly remitted under section 432 of the Criminal Code, section 8A of the Criminal Law (Conditional Release of Offenders) Act 1971 or section 114 of the Sentencing Act 1995 subject to conditions – until the conditions have been satisfied and no longer apply in relation to him; or

(i) subject to conditions – until the conditions have been satisfied and no longer apply in relation to him; or

(ii) unconditionally – until the expiration of the period during which the sentence remains suspended.

(2) For the purposes of this section, a person shall be deemed never to have been under sentence of imprisonment for an offence if he has been granted a free pardon in respect of the offence.

(2A) If a charge or conviction is expunged under the Expungement of Historical Homosexual Offence Records Act 2018 or Part XI, Division 18, of the Criminal Code:

(a) the person is to be treated under this Act as if the person had never committed or been charged with, prosecuted for, convicted of or sentenced for the offence; and

(b) the expunged charge or conviction is not a ground for ineligibility to be a juror.

(a) has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment (whether within the Territory, in a State or another Territory or in a prescribed country) for an offence other than a capital offence and:

(ii) a period of less than 7 years has elapsed since he completed the sentence;

(b) has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment (whether within the Territory, in a State or another Territory or in a prescribed country) for a capital offence;

(c) is a person in respect of whom a guardianship order under the Guardianship of Adults Act 2016 is in force;

under the Mental Health and Related Services Act 1998; or

(e) is a represented adult, as defined in section 3 of the Guardianship of Adults Act 2016;

is not qualified to serve as a juror.

Except as a talesman:

Springs is not qualified to serve as a juror at Alice Springs.