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Juries Act 1981

Sequestration, separation, retirement, and non-communication

29A: Routine sequestration on deliberation abolished

You could also call this:

"Juries don't have to stay together overnight while deciding a verdict."

Illustration for Juries Act 1981

You are on a jury and you have been thinking about a verdict. If you have not reached a verdict by the end of the day, you do not have to stay together. You can go home and come back when the court says to. The court can say you have to stay together if it thinks that is what is fair. The court's decision is more important than the usual rules. You used to have to follow old rules about staying together, but those rules do not apply anymore.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM1782647.

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Crime and justice > Courts and legal help
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"Paying for a court visit to check something"

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29B: Retirement and non-communication, or

"What happens when a jury retires to discuss a case"

29ARoutine sequestration on deliberation abolished

  1. If, at the end of a day of deliberation, a jury that has been directed to consider its verdict has reached no verdict,—

  2. the jury is not required to be sequestered; and
    1. the jurors are with the leave of the court permitted to separate until the time when the court requires the jury’s deliberation to resume.

      1. If the court or a Judge considers that it is required in the interests of justice, the court or Judge may order that the jury be sequestered until it reaches a verdict or until an earlier time or event specified in the court’s or Judge’s order.

      2. An order under subsection (2) overrides subsection (1), and may be made on—

      3. a written or oral application for the purpose; or
        1. the court’s or Judge’s own initiative.

          1. Every rule of common law that requires a jury to be sequestered, or under which jurors who separate without leave of the court are guilty of misconduct, is abolished.

          Notes
          • Section 29A: inserted, on , by section 18 of the Juries Amendment Act 2008 (2008 No 40).