Special Jury - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition special-jury

Definition :

Special jury, a jury consisting of persons who, in addition to the ordinary qualifications, are of a certain station in society as esquires, bankers, merchants, etc. The Jurors Act, 1870, s. 6, provides that every man whose name shall be on the jurors' book for any county in England or Wales, or for the county of the City of London, and who shall be legally entitled to be called an esquire, or shall be a person of higher degree, or shall be a banker or merchant, or who shall occupy a private dwelling-house rated or assessed to the poor rate, or to the inhabited house duty, on a value of not less than 100l. in a town containing, according to the census then next preceding the preparation of the jury list, 20,000 inhabitants and upwards, or rated or assessed to the poor rate, or to the inhabited house duty, on a value of not less than 50l. elsewhere, or who shall occupy premises other than a farm, rated or assessed as aforesaid on a value of not less than 100l., or a farm rated or assessed as aforesaid on a value of not less than 300l., shall be qualified and liable to serve on special juries in every such county in England and Wales, and in London respectively.

Summons of Special Jurors.--The 108th s. of the (English) Common Law Procedure Act, 1852, and the Special Jurors Act, 1898, provide for the summoning a sufficient number of special jurors to the assizes; and see the (English) Juries Act, 1922 (12 & 13 Geo. 5, c. 11), dispensing with the practice of 'striking' except for compensation under the (English) Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845.

Right to Special Jury.--Either party, if entitled to a jury, may have a special jury upon application. [(English) R.S.C. Ord. XXXVI., r. 9]

Fees of Jurors.--Each special juror is entitled to receive one guinea only for each cause he tries, but in very long cases the parties have occasionally agreed to pay more. The provisions as to payment of jurors, introduced by the (English) Jurors Act, 1870, s. 22--by which each special juror was entitled to one guinea each day of attendance--were repealed by 34 & 35 Vict. c. 2. See GOOD JURY.

Cost of Special Jury.--The party upon whose application the special jury is truck bears all the expenses occasioned at the trial of the cause by the special jury, and is not allowed any more costs than for a common jury, unless the judge, immediately after the verdict, certifies upon the back of the record that it was a proper cause to be tried by a special jury. See also JURY and TRIAL, and Chitty's Statutes, tit. 'Juries.'