ORDINANCE No. 7 OF 1845 . 131
Jurors.
No. 7 of 1845 .
An Ordinance for the Regulation of Jurors and Juries . Title.
[See Ordinance
No. 4 of 1849.]
[ 19th August, 1845. ]
´HEREAS owing to the smallness of the population at present existing in the Preamble.
W 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 Number of
jurors.
Legislative Council thereof, that all questions of fact, whether of a civil or criminal [As to Coroner's
inquests see
nature, upon which issue shall be taken in the course of any proceeding before the Ordinance No.
5 of 1847.]
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 Who qualified
and liable to
ages of twenty-one years and sixty years, being of sound mind, and not afflicted with serve as common
jurers.
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 tenaut 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 Special jury.
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.