Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1980

1 Qualification of jurors. S

(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3) below, every person who—

(a) is for the time being registered as a parliamentary or local government elector;

(b) is not less than 18 nor more than 65 years of age;

(c) has been ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for any period of at least 5 years since attaining the age of 13 years; and

(d) is not among the persons listed in Part I of Schedule 1 to this Act, being persons hereby declared ineligible for, nor among those listed in Part II of that Schedule, being persons hereby declared disqualified from, jury service,

shall be qualified and liable to serve as a juror in any Scottish court, civil or criminal.

(2) A person who is qualified under subsection (1) above but is among the persons listed in Part III of Schedule 1 to this Act, being persons hereby declared excusable as of right from jury service, shall be excused therefrom on any occasion where, having been cited to attend for jury service he—

(a) attends in compliance with the citation and intimates, to the court his right and desire to be so excused; or

(b) before the date on which he is cited first to attend, gives written notice of his right and desire to be so excused to the clerk of court issuing the citation.

(3) Without prejudice to subsection (2) above, a person who is qualified under subsection (1) above but is among the persons listed in Group C of Part III of Schedule 1 to this Act shall be excused from jury service on any occasion where he has been cited to attend for such service but his commanding officer certifies to the clerk of the court issuing the citation that it would be prejudicial to the efficiency of the force of which the person is a member were the person required to be absent from duty.

(4) The fact that any person serving on the jury chosen for a particular trial (whether before or after the coming into force of this Act) is, under subsection (1) above, ineligible or not qualified for or disqualified from jury service, or was under section 1 of the Jurors (Scotland) Act M1 1825 not qualified for such service, (as the case may be), shall not in itself affect the validity of any verdict returned by that jury in the trial.

(5) A person cited to attend for jury service and not excused under subsection (2) or (3) above may, if he shows to the satisfaction of the clerk of the court issuing the citation that there is good reason why he should be excused from attending in compliance with the citation, be excused by that clerk of court from so attending.

[F1 (5A) Where the clerk of court has, under subsection (5) above, excused a person from jury service in any criminal proceedings he shall, unless he considers there to be exceptional circumstances which make it inappropriate to do so, within one year of the date of that excusal cite that person to attend for jury service in criminal proceedings.]

(6) Without prejudice to—

(a) the preceding provisions of this section;

(b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F2

(c) section 100(1) or 133 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act M2 1975.

the court before which a person is cited to attend for jury service may excuse that person from that jury service.

Textual Amendments

F1 S. 1(5A) inserted (31.3.1996) by 1995 c. 20, s. 7(1); S.I. 1996/517, art. 3(2) (with arts. 4-6, Sch. 2) (which insertion fell (1.4.1996) by reason of the repeal of 1995 c. 20 by 1995 c. 40, ss. 6, 7(2), Sch. 5 (with Sch. 3 paras. 1, 3, 16, 17))

F2 S. 1(6)(b) repealed by Court of Session Act 1988 (c. 36, SIF 36:1), s. 52(2), Sch. 2 Pt. I

Marginal Citations

M1 1825 c. 22.

M2 1975 c. 21.