JUSTICE'S CHAPTER X. (EXTRACTS.) TRIALS, INCLUDING JURORS AND JURIES. TITLE III. Trial jurors, except in New-York and Kings counties; mode of selecting them and of procuring their attendance. Qualifica tions of trial jurors " ARTICLE FIRST, QUALIFICATIONS AND EXEMPTIONS OF TRIAL JURORS. PRELIMINARY NOTE.-By § 2991, p. 61, ante, jurors in justices' courts must be qualified to serve, and not exempt from serving as trial jurors in courts of record". The following sections contain the provisions respecting the qualifications and exemptions of trial jurors, elsewhere than in New-York and Kings counties, each of which has a special jury law, not copied into this work. See Code Civ. Proc., §§ 1079 to 1189, § 1027.* In order to be qualified to serve, as a trial juror, in a court of record, a person must be: 1. A male citizen of the United States, and a resident of the county. 2. Not less than twenty-one, nor more than sixty years of age. 3. Assessed, for personal property, belonging to him, in his own right, to the amount of two hundred and fifty dollars; or the owner of a freehold estate in real property, situated in the county, belonging to him in his own right, of the value of one hundred and fifty dollars; or the husband of a woman who is the owner of a like freehold estate, belonging to her, in her own right. 246 PART II 4. In the possession of his natural faculties, and not infirm or decrepit. 5. Free from all legal exceptions; of fair character; of approved integrity; of sound judgment; and well informed.(a) [2 R. S., 411, Part 3, ch. 7, tit. 4, § 13 (3 R. S., 5th ed., 695; 2 Edm., 426); omitting the first clause, which is in § 1036, post. Subd. 3 has been remodelled so as to conform to the changes in the law of property, made by the married women's acts. Otherwise, the section leaves the former provisions of law substantially unchanged. Although its structure makes the property qualification, in subd. 3, depend upon the facts, as they exist at the time of the trial, while § 13 of the R. S. makes it depend upon the facts, as they exist when the juror's name is placed upon the list, the practical effect is as stated in the substitute; for, by § 33 of the same title of the R. S., the juror is to be discharged, unless he has the requisite property qualification, at the time of the trial.] Addi provision §1028. But a person who was assessed, on the last assessment-roll of the town, for land in his possession, held under a contract for the purchase thereof, upon which improvements, owned by him, have tional been made, to the value of one hundred and fifty dollars, is qualified respecting qualificato serve as a trial juror, although he does not possess either of the tion. qualifications, specified in subdivision third of the last section, if he is qualified in every other respect.(") [Id., § 14, expanded so as to include the entire State, except NewYork and Kings counties.] § 1029. Each of the following officers is disqualified to serve as a trial juror: property Certain public 1. The governor; the lieutenant-governor; the governor's private officers secretary. 2. The secretary of State; the comptroller; the State treasurer; the attorney-general; the State engineer and surveyor; a canal commissioner; an inspector of State prisons; a canal appraiser; the superintendent of public instruction; the superintendent of the bank department; the superintendent of the insurance department; and the deputy of each officer, specified in this subdivision. 3. A member of the legislature, during the session of the house, of which he is a member. 4. A judge of a court of record, or a surrogate. disquali. filed. 247 JUSTICE'S 5. A sheriff, under-sheriff, or deputy-sheriff. Persons entitled to 6. The clerk or deputy-clerk of a court of record.(*) [This section covers cases, most of which have been previously unprovided for by statute.] §1030.* [Amended, 1879.] Each of the following persons, although claim qualified, is entitled to exemption from service, as a trial juror, upon exemption from his claiming exemption therefrom: service. 1. A clergyman, or a minister of any religion, officiating as such, and not following any other calling. 2. A resident officer of, or an attendant, assistant, teacher, or other person, actually employed in, a State asylum for lunatics, idiots, or habitual drunkards. 3. The agent or warden of a State prison; the keeper of a county jail; or a person actually employed in a State prison or county jail. 4. A practicing physician or surgeon, having patients requiring his daily professional attention. 5. An attorney or counsellor at law, regularly engaged in the practice of the law as a means of livelihood. 6. A professor or teacher, in a college or academy. 7. A person actually employed in a glass, cotton, linen, woolen, or iron manufacturing company, by the year, month, or season. 8. A superintendent, engineer, or collector, on a canal, authorized by the laws of the State, which is actually constructed and navigated. 9. A master, engineer, assistant-engineer, or fireman, actually employed upon a steam-vessel, making regular trips. 10. A superintendent, conductor, or engineer, employed by a railroad company, other than a street railroad company; or an operator, or assistant-operator, employed by a telegraph company; who is actually doing duty in an office, or along the railroad or telegraph line of the company, by which he is employed. 11. An officer, non-commissioned officer, musician, or private of the national guard of the State, performing military duty; or a per 248 son, who has been honorably discharged from the national guard, after five years' service, in either capacity. 12. A person who has been honorably discharged from the military forces of the State, after seven years' faithful service therein. But in order to entitle a person to exemption, under this subdivision, his service must have been performed before the 23d day of April, 1862, either as a general or staff-officer, or as an officer, non-commissioned officer, musician, or private, in a uniformed battalion, company, or troop of the militia of the State, and armed, uniformed, and equipped, according to law; or a portion thereof, during that period and in that capacity, and the remainder, since the 23d day of April, 1862, as a member of the national guard of the State. 13. A member of a fire company, or fire department, duly organ ized according to the laws of the State, and performing his duties therein; or a person who, after faithfully serving five successive years in such a fire company, or fire department, has been honorably discharged therefrom. 14. A person otherwise specially exempted by law.(3) [2 R. S., 415, Part 3, ch. 7, tit. 4, § 33, subd. 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, and § 35, subd. 1 (3 R. S., 5th ed., 713; 2 Edm., 432), and L. 1861, ch. 215 (3 Edm., 725); remodelled, and amended chiefly by adding to the list of exemptions. The introductory clause has been substituted in place of the words, "the court shall discharge any person from serving on a jury in the following cases", that provision being contained in the next section but one. Subd. 1 is the first clause of subd. 8 of § 33, amended so as to include other than Christian ministers, and to restrict its application to those who are actually exercising the duties of that calling. Subd. 2 has been taken from various statutes, relating to the asylums therein specified, ex. gr., L. 1842, ch. 135, § 10; L. 1862, ch. 220, § 10; L. 1874, ch. 446, tit. 3, § 11. Subd. 3 is substantially the same as L. 1847, ch. 460, § 148. Subd. 4 has been taken from subd. 1 of § 35 of the R. S.; it has been placed here, so as to make the practice of medicine, etc., a ground for exemption, rather than an excuse for non-attendance. Subd. 5 is new; its propriety will, it is believed, be apparent. Subd. 6, 7, and 8 have been substantially taken from the corresponding subd. of § 33 of the R. S. Subd. 9 and 10 have been framed upon L. 1861, ch. 215 (3 Edm., 725), the operation of which has been extended to certain employees upon steamboats and railroads, who should be exempted in like cases, upon the same grounds as employees of telegraph companies. Subd. 11 embodies the latest expression of the legislative will, with respect to the exemption, from jury duty, of the members of the national guard, and those who have been honorably discharged therefrom. L. 1875, ch. 223, § 59. amending § 253 of the "military code". Subd. 12 revives an exemption which once prevailed, but had been abrogated. The date specified therein, the 23d of April, 1862, is that when the [32] 249 PART II. JUSTICE'S MANUAL statute, organizing the national guard, took effect. L. 1862, ch. 477. That act (319) repealed various acts, passed in 1854 and subsequently, which provided for exemption from jury duty, after seven years' military service; and the exemption was not expressly restored until L. 1870, ch. 80, §§ 253, 254, when it was made prospective only. Afterwards, by L. 1871, ch. 245, it was made retrospective. The latter statute was repealed by L. 1872, ch. 519, which, however, does not affect the act of 1870. And L. 1849, ch. 307, § 13, in effect provides that seven years' military service in a uniformed company, etc., exempts from jury duty. That act has not been expressly repealed; and it is doubtful whether it was impliedly repealed, by the act of 1870. The struggle before the legislature, upon this question of military exemption, proceeds from the fact that most of the statutes, relating to the subject, allow an exemption from taxation, as well as from jury duty. Whatever may be thought of the propriety of the former, there is no reasonable ground for refusing the latter. Indeed, the faith of the State was pledged to the persons who are entitled to claim the exemption. Subd. 13 consists of subd. 5 of § 33 of the R. S., extended so as to take in L. 1845, ch. 244; L. 1847, ch. 460, § 130; and L. 1848, ch. 188. The provisions, respecting the evidence of a person's right to exemption under subd. 2, 3, 11, and 12, are incorporated into the next section.] Evidence of exemp tion in certain cases. § 1031.* The evidence of the right to exemption, as prescribed in the last section, is as follows: 1. Under subdivision second thereof, the certificate of the superintendent, or other principal officer of the asylumn. 2. Under subdivision third thereof, the certificate of the warden, or other principal officer, of the State prison, or the sheriff of the county, as the case requires, 3. Under subdivision eleventh thereof, where the applicant is a non-commissioned officer, musician, or private, in a company or troop of the national guard, the certificate of the commanding officer of the company or troop, accompanied with proof, by affidavit, of the genuineness of the signature thereto. 4. Under the last clause of subdivision eleventh, or under subdivision twelfth thereof, in the discretion of the court, the discharge of the person from military service, if it shows the facts entitling him to exemption. 5. Under the first clause of subdivision thirteenth thereof, where the applicant is under the rank of foreman, the certificate of the foreman, or other chief officer, of the company, to which the applicant belongs, accompanied with proof, by affidavit, of the genuineness of the signature thereto. |