Victorian Current Acts

JURIES ACT 2000 - SECT 78A

    (1)     A person who is—

        (a)     on a panel for a trial; or

        (b)     a juror in a trial—

must not make an enquiry for the purpose of obtaining information about a party to the trial or any matter relevant to the trial, except in the proper exercise of his or her functions as a juror.

Penalty:     120 penalty units.

    (2)     This section applies from the time a person is selected or allocated as part of a panel for a trial until—

        (a)     the person is excused from jury service on the trial; or

        (b)     the person returns to the jury pool; or

        (c)     if the person is empanelled as a juror, the juror, or the jury of which the juror is a member, is discharged by the trial judge.

    (3)     Nothing in this section prevents a juror from—

        (a)     making an enquiry of the court or another member of the jury, in the proper exercise of his or her functions as a juror; or

        (b)     making an enquiry authorised by the trial judge.

    (4)     Anything done by a juror in contravention of a direction given to the jury by the trial judge is not a proper exercise by the juror of his or her functions as a juror.

    (5)     In this section, "making an enquiry" includes—

        (a)     consulting with another person;

        (b)     conducting any research by any means;

Example

Using the Internet to search an electronic database for information.

        (c)     viewing or inspecting a place or object that is relevant to the trial;

        (d)     conducting an experiment;

        (e)     requesting another person to make an enquiry.

S. 78B inserted by No. 38/2008 s. 7, amended by No. 6/2018 s. 68(Sch. 2 item 74.9).