The Justice Committee has examined the Juries (Age of Excusal) Amendment Bill and recommends that it be passed. We recommend all amendments unanimously.

The Juries (Age of Excusal) Amendment Bill is a Member’s bill in the name of Carl Bates MP.

New Zealand does not have an upper age limit for jury service. However, the Juries Act 1981 provides that a person aged 65 or over, if summoned, can choose to serve or apply to be excused. The Registrar must grant the excusal if a person applies to be excused from jury service because they are aged 65 or over.¹ The application can be for a particular occasion (section 15(2)(aa)) or permanently (section 15A(2)). The bill would amend sections 15 and 15A to increase from 65 to 72 the age that a person may be excused from jury service.

The bill’s explanatory note states that decreasing the number of people who could exercise an age-related excusal from service would reduce the number of summonses that must be sent. This would increase the efficiency of the process and reduce costs for the Ministry of Justice.

As part of our consideration of the bill, we have examined its consistency with principles of legislative quality. We have no issues regarding the legislation’s design to bring to the attention of the House.

This commentary covers the amendments we recommend to the bill as introduced.

Clause 2 provides that the bill would come into force on the day after Royal assent. We understand that information that accompanies summonses about the available grounds for deferral and excusal would be updated upon commencement. We therefore consider that the increased excusal age should only apply to jury summonses, including replacement summonses, issued on or after the date that the bill commences. Accordingly, we recommend inserting transitional provisions via clauses 3A and 6. Under our proposed amendments, applications for excusal that relate to a summons made before this bill’s commencement would be subject to the existing provisions in the Act.