The Law Handbook 2024

Chapter 1.2: An introduction to the courts 25 Who can be excused from jury service? If a person is liable for jury service (that is, they are a voter who is not disqualified or ineligible) then they may apply to be temporarily or permanently excused from jury service for a good reason (ss 8, 9). The Juries Commissioner makes this decision (see ‘Contacts’ at the end of this chapter). The circumstances that amount to good reasons to be excused from jury service are set out in the Juries Act and include: • illness or poor health; • being vulnerable to the consequences of COVID-19; • incapacity; • too long a distance to travel to jury service (i.e. over 50 km if the court is in Melbourne, or over 60 km if the court is outside of Melbourne); • substantial hardship to the person if made to attend jury service; • substantial inconvenience to the public if the person is made to attend jury service; • care of dependants where alternative care is not reasonably available; • advanced age. To get excused from jury service, a person must prove to the Juries Commissioner that they have a good reason by giving evidence under oath (either oral or by affidavit), or by supplying a statutory declaration, or by other means deemed appropriate by the commissioner (ss 8(4), 9(5)). If the commissioner refuses an application to be excused from or defer jury service, the commissioner must notify the applicant of the decision. If a person is unhappy with the commissioner’s decision, they can appeal to the commissioner. An appeal must be lodged within 14 days of receiving the commissioner’s notification of their decision, or before the date on which jury service begins (whichever is sooner). The Supreme or County Court decides the appeal. A court can excuse a person from jury service (s 11) and decide that a person not perform jury service if this is just and reasonable (s 12). Procedure for selecting jurors Jury districts The Supreme Court and the County Court of Victoria hear cases in Melbourne and also in Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Hamilton, Horsham, Mildura, Sale, Shepparton, Wangaratta and Warrnambool. The County Court can also sit in Bairnsdale, Kerang and Morwell. The electoral district(s) around each of these towns is the jury district for that town, so people enrolled in that jury district are liable to serve as jurors in cases heard in that town (s 18). Jury rolls At least every 12 months the Juries Commissioner must notify the Electoral Commissioner of the number of people that will be required for jury service in a jury district. The Electoral Commissioner then randomly selects people who are qualified and liable for jury service in that district and sends the roll to the Juries Commissioner. A person selected for the jury roll is not eligible to be selected again for at least 12 months (s 19). Questionnaire After receiving the jury roll from the Electoral Commissioner, the Juries Commissioner sends a questionnaire to either all the people, or the necessary number of people, on the jury roll (s 20). A person receiving a questionnaire has 14 days to fill it out and send it back unless the Juries Commissioner gives a longer time. If a person fails to send the questionnaire back then they remain liable for jury service. It is an offence to fail to answer a question or give false or misleading information, with a maximum penalty of 30 pu or three months imprisonment (s 68). The purpose of the questionnaire is for the Juries Commissioner to work out who is qualified and liable for jury service. Summons to attend jury service From the lists of people liable for jury service, people are chosen at random for each jury district and these people are sent a summons to attend jury service. The summons must be served at least 10 days before the juror is to attend court (s 27). If for some reason a person cannot attend jury service as demanded by the summons, they should immediately contact the Juries Commissioner. It may be that a person can be excused or have their jury service deferred if they have a good reason (see ‘Who can be excused from jury service?’, above).