ORDINANCE No. 7 OF 1845.
Jurors.
No. 7 of 1845.
An Ordinance for the Regulation of Jurors and Juries.
[19th August, 1845.]
WHEREAS owing to the smallness of the population at present existing in the Colony of Hongkong, very great hardship and inconvenience would be entailed upon such of the inhabitants thereof as are fit and qualified to act as jurors, by requiring, according to the law and custom of England, the full number of twelve persons to constitute a jury upon the trial of civil and criminal proceedings; Be it therefore enacted and ordained by the Governor of Hongkong, with the advice of the Legislative Council thereof, that all questions of fact, whether of a civil or criminal nature, upon which issue shall be taken in the course of any proceeding before the Supreme Court, and all questions of idiotcy, lunacy, or unsoundness of mind, shall be decided by the verdict of a jury of six men.
2. And be it further enacted and ordained, that every male person between the ages of twenty-one years and sixty years, being of sound mind, and not afflicted with deafness, blindness, or other infirmity, who shall hold property in lands, houses, buildings, or tenements, of the monthly value of twenty-five dollars or upwards, either in his own right, or as tenant to any other person, or who shall be in the receipt of an annual salary or income of not less than one thousand dollars per annum, ["five hundred dollars" as amended by Ordinance No. 4 of 1849.] within the said Colony of Hongkong, and who shall reside within the same, shall be qualified and liable to serve as a common juror therein: Provided, that no person holding any office or situation of emolument under the Government of Hongkong, nor any barrister, physician, attorney, or surgeon actually practising as such within the said Colony, nor any clergyman, or dissenting minister, nor any officer employed in the military or naval service of Her Majesty or the East India Company, shall be, or be deemed liable to serve as a juror in any case.
3. And be it further enacted and ordained, 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 qualified as hereinafter mentioned) it shall be lawful for the Court, upon motion for that purpose, to order and appoint a special jury to be struck before the Registrar, or other officer of the Court, for the trial of any issue joined in any of the said cases, and triable by a jury, in such manner as is usual in England, or as the Court shall direct: 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.
Title.
131
[See Ordinance No. 4 of 1849.]
Preamble.
Number of Jurors.
[As to Coroner's inquests see Ordinance No. 5 of 1847.]
Who qualified and liable to serve as common jurors.
Special jury.