Majority and alternative verdicts
57 Majority and alternative verdicts
Subject to subsection (2), where a jury, having retired to consider its verdict, has remained in deliberation for at least 4 hours and the jurors have not then reached a unanimous verdict—
if a sufficient number agrees to enable the jury to return a majority verdict—a majority verdict will be returned; but
otherwise—the jury may be discharged from giving a verdict.
No verdict that an accused person is guilty of murder or treason can be returned by majority.
Where an accused person is charged with a particular offence (the
major offence) and it is possible for a jury to return a verdict of not guilty of the offence charged but guilty of some other offence for which the person has not been charged (the alternative offence)—
the jury must consider whether the accused is guilty of the major offence before considering whether he or she is guilty of the alternative offence; and
if the jury reaches a verdict (either unanimously or by majority) that the accused is not guilty of the major offence but then, having been in deliberation for at least 4 hours, is unable to reach a verdict on the question of whether the accused is guilty of the alternative offence—
the accused must be acquitted of the major offence;
and
the jury may be discharged from giving a verdict in respect of the alternative offence; and
fresh proceedings may be taken against the accused on a charge of the alternative offence.
In this section—
majority verdict means—
where the jury, at the time of returning its verdict, consists of
12 jurors—a verdict in which 10 or 11 jurors concur;
where the jury, at the time of returning its verdict, consists of
11 jurors—a verdict in which 10 jurors concur;
where the jury, at the time of returning its verdict, consists of
10 jurors—a verdict in which 9 jurors concur, and by majority has a corresponding meaning.
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