The List of Persons qualified to serve as jurors for 2010-2011 has been published … are you on it?Each year the Registrar of the Supreme Court is charged with the responsibility of releasing such a list for every county before the end of August. Any of the persons included on the list may be called at any time after September 1 to serve on a jury in a case pending before the courts in their respective counties.Over 5500 people have been listed this year in a special publication of the Official Gazette released on August 21. The majority,NFL Jerseys Store, 4411 persons,Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping, are from Demerara. But being listed does not necessarily mean that you will be called to serve as a juror. Persons listed have the opportunity of appealing their inclusion on the list by showing just cause as to why they are unfit or unable to serve jury duty. Appealing your inclusion on the list is usually done by appearing before the magistrate assigned to meet with persons in a given district. The dates of these sittings are also published with the lists; however there are very few reasons in the law prohibiting a person from serving on a jury.The regulations governing the selection of jurors and the empanelling of a jury can be found in Chapter 10:01 of the Constitution, the Criminal (Offences) Act. The Act explains that any person who is a citizen of the country and is not subject to any legal incapacity can serve as a juror once that person meets certain conditions.Earning a salary above a cited amount, owning immovable property or leasing immovable property for a certain period of time, are all conditions that qualify a person to be a juror. Even if that ownership or lease is shared, all of the joint owners and lessees are considered as qualified to serve under the act.You can however be disqualified under the act if you cannot speak,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, read or write English,Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale, or if you’re over sixty or under eighteen years of age. Conviction and/or imprisonment may also bar a person from serving as well as suffering from conditions such as deafness, dumbness,Cheap China Jerseys, blindness, insanity or imbecility.One Attorney-at-Law pointed out that what happens each year is that most large companies submit at the Registrar’s request a list of their employees who are qualified to serve as jurors under the provisions of the Act. A perusal of the listing in the Gazette shows that most of the employers listed are large companies. There are employees listed for all of the major commercial banks,Cheap China NFL Jerseys, insurance companies, the utility companies, large retailers and even a few of the major manufacturing companies.Even so, being listed as a person qualified to serve as a juror does not necessarily mean that you will be called. Each person is assigned a number in the listing and at the time that a jury is neededthirty names are drawn by lottery to make up a panel. Those on the panel are served a summons by the police to make their appearance at jury selection. At that time the accused and the prosecution have a session in the courts where they challenge the inclusion of panel members until the number is whittled down to twelve – and a jury is empanelled.There are a few seeming quirks written into the laws designed to allow for greater impartiality in jury selection. One of these is that a husband and wife cannot serve together; if a company has a number of eligible employees available to serve then only one in every five employees may be called upon to be a part of the same panel. Another is that in certain cases a judge may order that a jury consist only of men where he sees fit.So check your nearest post office or magistrates court and see if you are listed to be a juror. Shirking jury duty can result in fines and perhaps even jail time.
