New South Wales Consolidated Acts

JURY ACT 1977 - SECT 19

19 Numbers of jurors in criminal proceedings

(1) Except as provided by section 22, in any criminal proceedings in the Supreme Court or the District Court that are to be tried by jury, the jury is to consist of--

(a) 12 persons, or

(b) if the Court makes an order under subsection (2) for the selection of additional jurors--12 persons together with the number of additional jurors ordered by the Court,

returned and selected in accordance with this Act.

Note : If a jury is constituted by more than 12 jurors immediately before it retires to consider its verdict, section 55G provides that only 12 of those jurors may retire to consider the jury's verdict in the proceedings.

(2) Before a jury is selected in criminal proceedings in the Supreme Court or the District Court, the Court may order that up to 3 additional jurors be selected for the jury if the Court is satisfied that--

(a) the trial of the proceedings is of a kind prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this subsection, and

(b) the selection of the additional jurors is an appropriate means of ensuring that there will be sufficient jurors remaining on the jury when the jury is required to consider its verdict, and

(c) appropriate facilities to accommodate the additional jurors are available.

(3) Until regulations for the purposes of subsection (2) provide otherwise, a trial of proceedings the duration of which is likely to be more than 3 months is taken to be a trial of proceedings of a kind prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of that subsection.