Jury Act
When you receive a jury summons, you may want more information about what is required of you and the steps taken to select jurors for both criminal and civil trials in British Columbia. The Jury Act will provide you with more information and is considered the legal reference for jurors and juries.
The Jury Act sets out the law related to:
- who qualifies to be a juror;
- who can be disqualified from jury duty;
- who is exempt from jury duty;
- jury selection process for criminal and civil trials; and
- fees and reimbursements.
The following generally describes what you will find in each section in the Jury Act.
- Part 1 - Lists the reasons for disqualifying or exempting someone from serving as a juror.
- Part 2 - Explains how a criminal jury is selected, including trials - summoning the jurors and the procedures used during the selection.
- Part 3 - Explains how a civil jury is selected, including summoning and qualifying of the jurors, payment of jury fees, challenging the jurors and the process for arriving at a verdict.
- Part 4 - Discusses the authorized juror fees, registering and roll call for jurors, fines for non-attendance, discharging jurors, swearing in and regulation making power.
To learn more about each of these sections, please see the Jury Act.
