Chap. 57.—An ACT to Amend and Re-enact Sections 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11,
12, 14, 19, 25, and 38, of Chapter 162 of the Code of 1860, and to Repea!
Sections 3 and 9 of said Chapter, as to Juries Generally.

Approved February 3, 1871.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That sections one,
four, five, six, eight, ten, eleven, twelve, fourteen, nineteen,
twenty-five, and thirty-eight, of chapter one hundred and six-
ty-two of the Code of Virginia (edition of eighteen hundred
and sixty), be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Ҥ 1. All male citizens, twenty-one years of age and not
over sixty, who are entitled to vote and hold office under the
constitution and laws of this state, shall be liable to serve as
jurors, except as hereinafter provided.”

“Juries; how organized and suminoned.

Ҥ4. The judge of each county or corporation court shall,
as soon after this act goes into effect as may be, and thereafter
annually, at the May or June term of such court, prepare a list
of such inhabitants of the county or corporation, not exempt
as aforesaid, as he shall think well qualified to serve as jurors,
being persons of sound judgment and free from legal excep-
tion. Such list shall contain not less than one for every one
hundred inhabitants of each township or ward, having regard
to the population of the county, so that the whole number of
persons selected in the county shall amount at least to one
hundred, and not exceeding three hundred.

Ҥ 5. The list so prepared shall be delivered to the clerk of
the court, to be safely kept by him, subject only to the inspec-
tion of the judge, as hereinafter prescribed; and to such list
the judge may add the names of any persons liable to serve,
and to strike therefrom the name of any person who has been
convicted of any scandalous offence, or been guilty of any gross
immorality. |

Ҥ 6. When such list is made out, the judge shall cause all
the names thereon to be fairly written, each on a separate pa-
per or ballot, and shall fold or roll up the ballots so that the
names written thereon shal] not be visible on the outside, and
to resemble each other as nearly as may be, and shall deposit
the ballots in a secure box, prepared for the purpose, which
shall be safely kept hy the clerk, and shall be opened only by
order of the judge, as hereinafter prescribed.”

Ҥ 8. The clerk of every county or corporation court shall,
at least ten days before any term of a court at which a jury
may be wanted, to be designated by the judge thereof, issue a
writ of venire facias for twenty-eight jurors, and shall therein
require the attendance of the jurors on the first day of the
court, or at such other day thereof as the said court shall or-
der; but whenever, in the opinion of the circuit, county, or
corporation court of any county or corporation, a greater
number of jurors than twenty-eight is necessary for the dis-
patch of the business of said court, such opinion shall be en-
tered of record, together with the number of jurors deemed
necessary by said court; and if it be the circuit court, it shall
be the duty of the clerk of the circuit court thereafter to no-
tify the clerk of the county or corporation court of such county,
in writing, at least twenty days before the jurors are required
to attend, of the number of jurors so ordered, and the time
and place at which they are to attend.”

Ҥ 10. It shall be the duty of the clerk of the county or cor-
poration court, on a day not less than seven nor more than ten
days before the day on which the jurors are required, in the
presence of the judge, if practicable, if not, of the common-
wealth’s attorney, or one of the commissioners in chancery of
the circuit court of the county or corporation, to cause the
proper number of jurors to be drawn from the box, and forth-
with deliver the writ of venire facias already issued, in pur-
suance of the eighth section, to the proper officer of the county
or corporation, requiring him to summon the persons thus
drawn, whose names shall be stated in the writ, together with
the term and the court at which they are required to attend.
And it shall be the duty of the officer, at least three days be-
fore the time when the jurors are required to attend, to sum-
mon each person who is drawn to attend the sitting of the
court at the time and place mentioned in the writ, and make a
due return thereof at the opening of the court in which the
attendance of the jurors is required. If, in pursuance of the
eighth section of this act, more than twenty-eight jurors are
required by the circuit, county, or corporation court, of any
county or corporation, and shall have been summoned, it shall
be the duty of the said court to divide, by lot, the said num-
ber of jurors equally into two classes of twenty-eight jurors
each, which shall be denominated class number one and class
number two. And it shall be the duty of class number one to
serve as jurors, to the exclusion and reliet of class number two,
from the first to the sixth day of the term, inclusive, at
which time it shall be the duty of the jurors of the class num-
ber two to attend and serve as jurors, except in those cases
when any of the jurors of class number one are actually sworn
in a cause, to the exclusion and relief of class number one, from
the sixth to the twelfth day of the term, inclusive. And the
said classes, number one and number two, shall so on, alter-
nately, serve as jurors until the end of the term to which they
may have been summoned as jurors. :

Ҥ 11. When jurors are to be drawn as aforesaid, the bal-
lots in the jury box shall be shaken and mixed together, and
the clerk, in the presence of the judge, if present, if not, in the
presence of the commonwealth’s attorney, or commissioner in
chancery of the circuit court of the county or corporation,
shall openly draw therefrom as many ballots (without inspect-
ing the names written on any till the proper number is drawn)
as shall be equal to the number of jurors required; and if any
person, whose name is drawn, is exempted by law, or is una-
ble, by reason of sickness, absence from home, or other cause,
to attend as a juror, his name shall be returned to the box; eor
if his name has been stricken from the jury list, the ballot shall
be destroyed, and another shall be drawn in his stead.

Ҥ 12, When any person is drawn, and returned to serve as
a juror as aforesaid, the judge, if present, if not, the common-
wealth’s attorney, or commissioner in chancery, shall cause to
be endorsed on the ballot containing his name, the word
“ drawn,” and shall return it to the box, and the date of the
draft shall be entered on the list of jurors opposite his
name.”

Ҥ 14, Nothing contained in the preceding sections shall
prevent any court from issuing writs of venire facias, in term
time, for additional jurors, or requiring other jurors to be sum-
moned whenever it shall be found necessary for the convenient
dispatch of business, in which case the writ shall be served and
returned, and the jurors shall be required to attend, on such
days as the court shall direct. All of said jurors shall be sum-
moned from a list to be furnished the officer by the judge of
the court.”

Ҥ 19. When, by reason of challenge or otherwise, a suffii-
cient number of jurors, duly drawn and summoned, cannot be
obtained for the trial of any case, the court shall cause the
jurors to be returned from the by-standers, or from the county
or corporation at large; and for that purpose may direct a
venire tacias to any fit person, whose daty it shall be to exe-
cute and return the same according to the exigency thereof.
All of said jurors shall be summoned from a list to be far-
nished the officer by the judge, unless the judge shall deem it
proper to dispense with said list.”
Ҥ 25, Any court may allow a special jury in any case to be
formed in the following manner, viz: a panel shall be made
of twenty qualified jurors, to be summoned by an order of the
court for that purpose, free from just cause of exception, from
which sixteen shall be chosen by lot; the parties thereupon,
beginning with the plaintiffs or commonwealth’s attorney,
where the commonwealth is a party, shall alternately strike off
one, until the number be reduced to twelve, which number
shall compose the jury for the trial of the case. The said
jurors shall be summoned from a list to be furnished the officer
by the judge of the court.”

Ҥ 38. In any case, except a case of felony or misdemeanor,
unless one of the parties demand that the case be tried by a
jury, the whole matter of law and of fact may be heard and
determined, and judgment given, by the court; and by consent
of parties, entered of record, the jury may consist of seven,
and in that case a verdict shall be as valid, and have the same
effect, as if it had been found by a jury of twelve. And in
any civil case in which the consent of the plaintiff and defendant
shall be entered of record, it shall be lawful for the plaintiff to
select one person, who shall be eligible as a juror, and for the
defendant to select another, and for the two persons so selected
to select a third of like qualifications, and the three so selected
shall be considered a jury in the case, shall take the oath re-
quired of jurors, and shall hear and determine the issue, and,
any two concurring, shall render a verdict, under the instruc-
tion of the court, in like manner and to the like effect as a jury
of twelve.”

2. Sections three and nine of chapter one hundred and six-
ty-two of the Code of Virginia (eighteen hundred and sixty),
be and the same are hereby repealed.

3. This act shall be in force from and after the first day of
April, eighteen hundred and seventy-one.