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ORDINANCE No. 4 OF 1851.
Jurors.
Penalty for non-attendance.
Jury to be balloted for.
Governor and Council to mark off the names of not less than 24 persons in the general Jury list, who shall be liable to serve as special jurors.
Power to the Court on cause shewn to exempt jurors from serving, or to remove their names from the list.
Court, a panel, containing the names, places of abode, and additions, of the persons so summoned.
9. And be it further enacted and ordained, that if any juror, having been duly served with such summons, shall fail to attend, or being present, shall not when appear called, or after appearance shall withdraw himself without the permission of the Court, the said Court shall (unless some reasonable excuse be proved on oath or affidavit, or otherwise to the satisfaction of the Court) set upon the person so making default such fine, not exceeding the sum of one hundred dollars, as to the said Court shall seem meet.
10. And be it further enacted and ordained, that at the sitting of the Court the names of all the jurors summoned shall be written on separate pieces of card of equal size and put into a box, and the Registrar or clerk of the said Court shall, in open Court, draw therefrom until six jurors appear, who, after all just causes of challenge allowed, shall remain as fair and indifferent, and the same shall be done whenever it shall be necessary to form a new jury.
11. And be it further enacted and ordained, that when and so often as the said list of jurors shall have been transmitted by the said Registrar in manner as aforesaid to the said Governor and Legislative Council, he and they shall mark off, and designate with the term "Special Juror," not less than twenty-four of the names contained in the said list, and the persons whose names are so marked off or designated, shall be liable to serve both as special and common jurors, and the names of such special jurors shall be formed into a separate list; and that, if either the plaintiff or the defendant in any suit or action, or the prosecutor or defendant in any indictment or information other than for treason or felony, shall be desirous of having such suit or action, indictment or information, tried by a special jury (such special jury to consist of six men so marked or designated as aforesaid), it shall be lawful for the Court, upon motion for that purpose, to appoint a special jury for the trial of any issue joined in any of the said cases and triable by a jury, which shall be balloted for from the said special jury list by the said sheriff in the presence of the said Registrar or his deputy (as hereinbefore provided for in the case of a common jury) and summoned in the like manner. Provided that the party applying for such special jury, and who shall have obtained a rule or order of the Court for that purpose, shall, on entering the cause for trial, deposit with the Registrar or other officer of the Court, a sum sufficient to cover the expenses of the special jury; otherwise, the said rule or order of the Court to be of no effect. And be it further provided, that the verdict or finding of every such special jury shall be subject to the said provisions respecting majorities, as if it were a common jury. [So much as provides that the persons marked off as special jurors shall be taken to serve both as special and common jurors repealed by Ordinance No. 2 of 1860.]
12. And be it further enacted and ordained, that nothing herein contained shall prevent the said Court from exempting in its discretion any person or persons from serving as a juror on any trial, or from removing their names from the list of jurors, on cause being shewn for so doing.