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” . |
Para. (3)—Repeals
(4) Nothing in this Order except Articles 14(1) and 22 shall prejudice any power to make rules of court.