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Juries Act 1981

Jury lists and panels

15: Registrar's discretion and duty to excuse from jury service on particular occasion

You could also call this:

"When You Can Be Excused from Jury Service"

Illustration for Juries Act 1981

The Registrar can excuse you from jury service on a particular occasion. You need to make a written application to the Registrar and they will decide. The Registrar might ask you for evidence to support your application. The Registrar can excuse you if attending jury service would cause you undue hardship or serious inconvenience, or if you cannot perform a juror's duties satisfactorily. You can also be excused if you are a practising member of a religious sect that does not allow jury service, or if you are 72 years or older. You can appeal to the court if the Registrar declines your application. You can be excused if you have served as a juror in the last two years or if you have already been excused from jury service for a period that has not yet expired. The Registrar can treat your application as a request to delay your jury service, and decide it accordingly. The Registrar will make a decision based on the information you provide.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM44805.

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Crime and justice > Courts and legal help
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14D: Deferral of, or excusal from, jury service of person subject to home detention for less than 3 months, or

"Delay or be excused from jury service if you're on home detention for less than 3 months"

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15A: Registrar's discretion and duty to excuse from jury service permanently, or

"When you can't do jury service because of health or age"

15Registrar's discretion and duty to excuse from jury service on particular occasion

  1. The Registrar may excuse a person summoned to attend as a juror on an occasion from attending on that occasion.

  2. However, the Registrar may exercise that power only if satisfied, on a written application for the purpose made by or on behalf of that person, that,—

  3. because of 1 or more matters specified in section 14B(3), attendance on that occasion would cause or result in undue hardship or serious inconvenience to that person, any other person, or the general public; and
    1. in the circumstances, a deferral of jury service under section 14B is not reasonably practicable; and
      1. because of 1 or more matters specified in section 14B(3), that person would not, if required to attend as a juror on that occasion, be able to perform a juror's duties satisfactorily.

        1. The Registrar may, if the Registrar thinks fit, treat an application under this section as if it were an application for deferral under section 14B and, if the Registrar does so, the application must be determined accordingly.

        2. The Registrar must excuse a person summoned to attend as a juror on an occasion from attending on that occasion if satisfied, on a written application for the purpose made by or on behalf of the person, that the person—

        3. is a practising member of a religious sect or order that holds service as a juror to be incompatible with its tenets; or
          1. is of or over the age of 72 years; or
            1. has served, or (having been summoned) has attended for service, as a juror at any time within the preceding period of 2 years; or
              1. has been excused from jury service for a period that has not yet expired.

                1. The Registrar may ask a person to provide evidence in support of an application under this section if the Registrar reasonably thinks that evidence of that kind is necessary in order to determine the application.

                2. If the Registrar declines an application under this section, the applicant may, in accordance with the jury rules, appeal against that decision to the court before which the applicant is summoned to appear.

                Compare
                • 1908 No 90 s 96A
                • 1959 No 39 s 4(1)
                Notes
                • Section 15 heading: amended, on , by section 10(1)(a) of the Juries (Jury Service and Protection of Particulars of Jury List Information) Amendment Act 2012 (2012 No 75).
                • Section 15 heading: amended, on , by section 10(1)(b) of the Juries (Jury Service and Protection of Particulars of Jury List Information) Amendment Act 2012 (2012 No 75).
                • Section 15(1): replaced, on , by section 12(1) of the Juries Amendment Act 2008 (2008 No 40).
                • Section 15(1A): inserted, on , by section 12(1) of the Juries Amendment Act 2008 (2008 No 40).
                • Section 15(1B): inserted, on , by section 12(1) of the Juries Amendment Act 2008 (2008 No 40).
                • Section 15(2): amended, on , by section 10(2) of the Juries (Jury Service and Protection of Particulars of Jury List Information) Amendment Act 2012 (2012 No 75).
                • Section 15(2)(aa): inserted, on , by section 9(2) of the Juries Amendment Act 2000 (2000 No 2).
                • Section 15(2)(aa): amended, on , by section 5 of the Juries (Age of Excusal) Amendment Act 2026 (2026 No 5).
                • Section 15(3): replaced, on , by section 10(4) of the Juries (Jury Service and Protection of Particulars of Jury List Information) Amendment Act 2012 (2012 No 75).
                • Section 15(4): amended, on , by section 12(4) of the Juries Amendment Act 2008 (2008 No 40).