1890_JURORS_ORDINANCE — Page 2

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Ordinances No. 7 of 1845 and No.4

Finding or

verdict of a

majority of 4 Jurors out of 6,

to be held as the verdict of the Jury, unless in capital cases, where unanimi-

ty shall be requi- site.

ORDINANCE No. 4 of 1851.

Jurors.

1. Be it therefore enacted and ordained by His Excellency the Governor of

of 1849 repealed. Hongkong, with the advice of the Legislative Council thereof, that the said two last mentioned ordinances be and are hereby repealed, and that all questions of fact, subject to the exception hereinafter contained, whether of a civil or criminal nature, upon which issue shall be taken in the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 idiocy, lunacy, and unsoundness of mind, shall be decided by a jury of six men. And that in the event of any two or one of the said jury dissenting from the others, the unanimous verdict or finding of a majority of four, shall be held and deemed to all intents and purposes as the verdict or finding of the said jury of six men. Provided always, that if any traverser or defendant be arraigned for any offence visited by the law with capital punishment, then and in such case the said jury of six men must be unanimous in their verdict or finding of guilty, in the same manner as required before the repeal of the said two last mentioned ordinances, in order to ground or warrant a sentence of capital punishment. But should such a majority of the said jury of six find any traverser or defendant guilty of a lesser crime than the capital oue, on which he may have been arraigned, then due sentence of law shall follow the verdict or finding of such majority.

Who qualified

to serve as

Jurors.

Sheriff to make out jury list, and transmit same. to Registrar, who shall forward the same through the Clerk of the Councils to the Governor and Legislative Council for

approval or alteration.

that every

male person

2. And be it further enacted and ordained,

between the ages of twenty-one and sixty years, being of sound mind, and not afflicted with deafness, blindness, or other infirmity, who shall be a good and sufficient person resident within the said Colony, shall be qualified and liable to serve as a juror therein: Provided, that no member of the Colonial Councils, or 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 of the East India Company, nor any person ignorant of the English language, shall be, or be deemed liable to serve as a juror in any case,

3. And be it further enacted and ordained, that from and immediately after the publication of this Ordinance, the sheriff of the said Colony of Hongkong shall make, or cause to be made out, a list in alphabetical order of all men who shall be qualified and liable to serve as jurors as aforesaid, setting forth the Christian and surnames of each at full length, together with his place of abode, and shall sign and transmit a copy of such list to the Registrar of the Supreme Court, who shall thereupon cause a copy of such list to be posted for the term of one fortnight on or in some conspicuous part of the Court House, to the end that the inhabitants of the Colony may, as the case shall be, apply by notice in writing to the said Registrar requiring that their names may be respectively either added to or struck off from the said list, upon cause duly assigned in such notice; and the said Registrar immediately after the expiration of the time for posting such list shall forward the same, and such notices as may be so served on him, to the Clerk of the Legislative Council, to the end that the said Governor with the advice of the said Council (and he and they are hereby empowered so to do) may strike off or add such name or names from among those of the said inhabitants as to the said