Juries Act 1927

This Act may be cited as the Juries

Act 1927.

In this Act, unless inconsistent with the context or some other meaning is clearly intended—

civil trial means the trial of an action, or any issue arising in or in relation to an action, before a court exercising civil jurisdiction;

criminal trial means the trial of an indictable offence or of an issue arising in or in relation to the trial of an indictable offence before a court exercising criminal jurisdiction;

sheriff includes deputy sheriff and any other person for the time being performing the functions of the sheriff under this

Act;

subdivision means subdivision of any electoral district for the purpose of electing members of the House of

Assembly.

No civil trial is to be held before a jury.

A criminal trial in the Supreme Court or the District Court is, subject to this Act, to be by jury.

The jury is, subject to this Act, to consist of 12 persons qualified and liable to serve as jurors.

If the court thinks there are good reasons for doing so, the court may order that an additional juror, or 2 or 3 additional jurors, be empanelled for a criminal trial.

If an additional juror or additional jurors have been empanelled and, when the jury is about to retire to consider its verdict, or to consider whether to return a verdict without hearing further evidence, the jury consists of more than 12 jurors, a ballot will be held to exclude from the jury sufficient jurors to reduce the number of the jury to

12.

If a juror or jurors are excluded from the jury under subsection (2), the court will either—

discharge them from further service as jurors for the trial;

or

if a number of separate issues are to be decided separately by the jury—direct that they rejoin the jury when the issue in relation to which they have been excluded from the jury has been decided; or

if the jury is retiring to consider whether or not to return a verdict without hearing further evidence—direct that they rejoin the jury in the event that the jury decides that it wishes to hear further evidence before returning a verdict.

If a jury has chosen one of its members to speak on behalf of the jury as a whole, that juror is not subject to exclusion by ballot under subsection (2).

Subject to this section, where, in a criminal trial before the

Supreme Court or the District Court—

the accused elects, in accordance with the rules of court, to be tried by the judge alone; and

the presiding judge is satisfied that the accused, before making the election, sought and received advice in relation to the election from a legal practitioner, the trial will proceed without a jury.

No election may be made under subsection (1) where the accused is charged with a minor indictable offence and has elected to be tried in the District

Court.

Where two or more persons are jointly charged, no election may be made under subsection (1) unless all of those persons concur in the election.

Where an information is presented to the District Court or the

Supreme Court under section 103 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1921 and the information includes a charge of a serious and organised crime offence (within the meaning of the Criminal Law

Consolidation Act 1935), the Director of Public

Prosecutions may apply to the court for an order that the accused be tried by judge alone.

The court may make an order on an application under subsection (3a) if it considers it is in the interests of justice to do so (and may do so at any time before commencement of the trial of the matter, regardless of whether a jury has been constituted in accordance with this Act to try the issues on the trial).

Without limiting subsection (3b), the court may make an order on an application under subsection (3a) if it considers that there is a real possibility that acts that may constitute an offence under section 245 or 248 of the Criminal Law

Consolidation Act 1935 would be committed in relation to a member of a jury.

An order of a court on an application under subsection (3a) may be appealed against in the same manner as a decision on an issue antecedent to trial.

If a criminal trial proceeds without a jury under this section, the judge may make any decision that could have been made by a jury and such a decision will, for all purposes, have the same effect as a verdict of a jury.

The following jury districts are constituted:

The Adelaide Jury District;

The Northern Jury District;

The South-Eastern Jury District.

The jury districts constituted under subsection (1) consist of the subdivisions declared by the Governor by proclamation.

A jury district is not affected by the alteration or abolition of any subdivision comprised in the district under the Electoral

Act 1929, or any other law.

The Governor may from time to time, by proclamation, vary the area of any jury district, provided that the area of the district, as varied, consists of one or more complete subdivisions.

Each person residing in South Australia who is enrolled on the roll of electors and who is entitled to vote at the election of members of the House of Assembly is, subject to the exceptions mentioned in this Act, qualified and liable to serve as a juror.

A person is disqualified from jury service if, either in this State or elsewhere—

he or she has been convicted of an offence for which death or life imprisonment is a mandatory, or the maximum, penalty; or

he or she has been sentenced to imprisonment for a term exceeding 2 years; or

within the period of 10 years immediately preceding the relevant date, he or she—

has served the whole, or a part, of a term of imprisonment;

or

has served the whole, or a part, of a term of detention in an institution for the correction or training of young offenders; or

has been on probation or parole; or

within the period of 5 years immediately preceding the relevant date, he or she—

has been convicted of an offence punishable by imprisonment;

or

has been disqualified by order of a court from holding or obtaining a driver's licence for a period exceeding 6 months; or

he or she is, at the relevant date, subject to a bond to be of good behaviour; or

he or she has been charged with an offence punishable by imprisonment and the charge has not yet been determined.

The Commissioner of Police must, at the request of the sheriff, investigate and report on any matter relevant to determining whether or not a person is disqualified from jury service under this section.

In this section, a reference to the relevant date is a reference to the date on which the qualification of a prospective juror for jury service falls to be determined.

A person is ineligible for jury service if he or she—

is mentally or physically unfit to carry out the duties of a juror;

or

has insufficient command of the English language to enable him or her properly to carry out the duties of a juror; or

is one of those persons declared by

Schedule

3 to be ineligible for jury service.

Subject to section 69, a person is not liable to serve as a juror in any court unless he or she resides within the jury district in which the jury is to be empanelled.

A verdict cannot be challenged on the ground that a member of the jury was disqualified from, or ineligible for, jury service unless the allegation of disqualification or ineligibility was made before the juror was sworn.