Chapter CII. *providing for the Selection of Jurors to serve in the several Courts in the District of Columbia.* June 16, 1862. *Be it enacted by the Senate, and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, List of persons best qualified to serve as jurors to be made, That it
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Chap. CII.— An Act *providing for the Selection of Jurors to serve in the several Courts in the District of Columbia.* June 16, 1862. *Be it enacted by the Senate, and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, List of persons best qualified to serve as jurors to be made, That it shall be the duty of the Register of Washington city, and of the respective clerks of the city of Georgetown and the Levy Court of Washington county, in the District of Columbia, within one month after the passage of this act, and on or before the first day of February in each year thereafter, to make a list of such of the while male citizens, tax-payers, residing within their respective jurisdictions, as they shall judge best qualified to serve as jurors in the courts of the said District, in which lists may be included, in the discretion of the officer making the same, the names of such qualified persons as were on the list of the previous year but did not serve as jurors, and where to be kept.the lists thus made by the register and clerks aforesaid shall be kept by them, respectively, and be delivered over to their successors in office.
Sec. 2. Names to be selected from the list.*And be it further enacted*, That the officers aforesaid shall select from the list of the register of Washington city the names of four hundred persons, from that of the clerk of Georgetown eighty persons, and from that of the clerk of the levy court forty persons, which proportion, after the year eighteen hundred and sixty-three, may be varied from year to year according to the increase or decrease of population in the respective jurisdictions, by order of the judges of the circuit court of Washington county.
Sec. 3. Who shall be exempt from jury duty.*And be it further enacted*, That the Mayors of the cities of Washington and Georgetown, all judicial officers, salaried officers of the Government of the United States, commissioners of police, and those connected with the police or fire department, counsellors and attorneys at law, ministers of the gospel and priests of every denomination, practising physicians and surgeons, keepers of hospitals, asylums, almshouses, or other charitable institutions created by or under the laws relating to the District of Columbia, captains and masters and other persons employed Their names not to be placed on the list.on vessels navigating the waters of said District, and keepers of public ferries, shall be exempt from jury duty, and their names shall not be placed in the list aforesaid.
Sec. 4. Names, how placed injury box.*And be it further enacted*, That the names selected from said lists shall be written on separate and similar pieces of paper, which shall be so folded or rolled up that the names cannot be seen, and placed in a Box to be sealed and where kept.box, to be provided by the register and clerks aforesaid, which box shall be sealed, and after being thoroughly shaken, shall be delivered to the clerk of the circuit court of Washington county for safe-keeping.
Sec. 5. Drawing of grand and petit jurors.*And be it further enacted*, That the said register and clerks, and the clerk of the circuit court, shall, at least ten days before the commencement of each term of the circuit or of the criminal court, meet at the City Hall in Washington city, and then and there the clerk of the circuit court shall publicly break the seal of said box and proceed to draw therefrom the names of so many persons as are required; and if the jury Criminal court.about to be drawn is intended for service in the criminal court, the twenty-three persons whose names shall be first drawn shall constitute the grand jury; and the twenty-six persons whose names shall next be drawn shallTHIRTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS.
Sess. II. Ch. 102. 1862.429 constitute the petit jury for that term; but in a capital case where theDrawing of jurors in capita] cases. said panel shall have been exhausted by reason of challenge or otherwise, the court before whom such capital case is pending may, in its discretion, order additional names to be drawn; and if all of the names in the box shall have been drawn out and no jury found, the court may order the marshal to summon talesmen until a jury shall be found.
And if a juryTalesmen.Circuit court. be required for the circuit court, the twenty-six persons whose names shall first be drawn shall constitute the jury for that term, and the names of the persons drawn as aforesaid shall not be again placed in such box for the period of two years. If any person whose name is so drawn shall have died or removed from the District, or has become otherwise disabled from serving as a juror, the said register and clerks shall draw from the box another name, who shall serve instead; and after the requisite number of jurors shall have been so drawn, the said box shall be again sealed and delivered to the clerk of the circuit court as aforesaid.
Sec. 6. *And be it further enacted*, That it shall be the duty of theThose drawn as jurors, how notified. marshal of the District of Columbia, at least five days before the meeting of the court for which a jury is required, to notify each person drawn, by serving on him a notice in writing of his selection as a juror of the court he is to attend, and of the day and hour he is to appear; which noticeService of notice. shall be given to each juror in person, or be left at his usual place of residence; a copy of which notice, with his certificate stating when and in what manner the original was served, shall be returned by the saidOfficer’s return. marshal to the court before the commencement of the term for which the said jurors were drawn.
Sec. 7. *And be it further enacted*, That in case either of the officersProceedings in officers neglect, &c. to make lists, whose duty it is make out the lists aforesaid shall neglect or refuse to act, or in case either of them shall be interested in any action or proceeding pending in the said circuit or criminal court, the chief judge of the circuit court shall appoint a fit and proper person to discharge the duty instead; and if the persons selected as jurors do not attend, theif jurors do not attend, court may order the marshal to summon other respectable tax-payers, possessing the other legal qualifications, to supply the deficiency.
And if at any time there should not be, by reason of challenge or otherwise,if the panel is incomplete. a sufficient number of jurors to make up the panel, the court shall order the marshal to summon as many talesmen as are necessary for that purpose. Sec. 8. *And be it further enacted*, That no person shall be competentQualifications of jurors. to act as a juror unless he be a citizen of the United States, a resident of the District of Columbia, over twenty-one and under sixty-five years of age, a good and lawful man, who has never been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude.
And a person may be excusedExcuses from serving as jurors. by the court from serving on a jury when, for any reason, his interests or those of the public will be materially injured by his attendance, or when be is a party in any action or proceeding to be tried or determined by the intervention of a jury at the term for which he may be summoned, or where his own health or the death or sickness of a member of his family requires his absence. Sec. 9. *And be it further enacted*, That if any officer named in the firstPenalty for putting certain persons on list, or for fraud, &c. in drawing, section of this act shall put on the list he is required to make, the name of any person at his own request, or on the request of any other person, or shall be guilty of any fraud or collusion with respect to the drawing of jurors, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars, and imprisoned in the county jail not less than sixty days, for each and every offence.
Andfor drawing too large a number. if the clerk of the circuit court shall draw from the box a greater number of names than is required by the court, in accordance with the provisions of this act, or shall put in said box any name after the same has beenfor wrongfully putting name in box. delivered to him as aforesaid, or shall be guilty of any fraud or collusion in430THIRTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS. Sess. II. Ch. 102, 103. 1862. Penalty for any fraud or collusion in drawing jurors.respect to the drawing of jurors, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars, and be imprisoned in the county jail not less than sixty days, for each and every offence.
Sec. 10. Persons notified to serve as jurors neglecting to attend, to be fined.*And be it further enacted*, That if any person selected as a juror and duly notified to attend according to the requirements of this act, shall, without sufficient cause, neglect to attend agreeably to such notice, he shall be fined by the court in a sum not exceeding twenty dollars for every day he shall be absent during the sitting of said court. Sec. 11. Names on lists to be taken in due proportions from several wards, &c.*And be it further enacted*, That the names on the lists specified in the second section of this act shall be selected, as near as may be, from among the citizens of the several wards of the cities of Washington and Georgetown, and the three divisions of the county of Washington outside the limits of said cities formed by the Eastern branch of the Potomac River and Rock Creek, in proportion to the number of taxable inhabitants residing in said wards and districts, respectively.
Approved, June 16, 1862.