Today the relaxation of the language requirement has

- Today, the relaxation of the language requirement has made the jury a
more representative institution:
- The jury pool has increased from 20,000 in 1995 to about one-tenth of
the entire population in 2014 (about 700,000).
HK jury normally 7
persons
Fair trial-good for
politically sensitive
cases
Lord Devlin (1956)
Only roughly half of the
5,000 people committed
for trial by jury between
1844 and 1870 had been
found guilty.
Chiang Lily v Secretary
for Justice (2009), the
Court of First Instance
(Wright J)

- The Registrar of the High Court confirms the List of Jurors in February
every two years.
- Jury service is considered an important civic duty

a request to be removed from the jurors’ list either permanently or
for a specified period will rarely be successful.
- The minimum number of jurors is 5; a jury of 7 (and up to 9) jurors are
sworn for criminal trials.
- An accused may challenge not more than 5 jurors without cause and
for any cause (eg bad character, bias, not qualified)
Jury trial
- In a criminal trial before CFI, it is the jury rather than the judge who
determines the guilt of the accused on the basis of the facts
- The role of judge is to moderate the proceedings
- After all closing speeches the judge will sum up the case to the jury
- Only in rare cases will the judge direct jury to acquit, if the evidence has
made it unsafe to convict (but not to convict)
- If the jury convicts, then the judge will to mitigation and sentencing
phases-> sentencing is solely the judge’s responsibility
Independence of jury
- Jurors must act independently, fairly and impartially
- An employer who terminates or threatens to terminate or discriminates
against any employee due to his or her service as a juror is criminally
liable and punishable
- The role of judge in a jury trial is not to find facts or issue a verdict, but
to explain the law to jurors
- In exceptional case, a judge may direct the jury to acquit, but has no
power to direct the jury to convict the accused
Doctrine of “jury equity”
- Jurors to deliver verdicts based on their conscience : if they believe the
letter of law is unduly harsh , or if they feel special sympathy for the
accused
- Juries do not give reasons for their verdicts
- An acquittal by a jury may not be appealed against
- Jury equity is considered as the last line of defence against oppressive
Sar v chan huandai
(2016)
Some also doubt
jury’s competence
against complex
cases-> affect fair
trial

prosecution whereby jurors can rescue a deserving D
- It has reinforced skepticism that verdicts may be based on irrelevant
factors eg D’s appearance, personality of counsel/ prosecutor, personal
bias for and against law enforcement, media influence
- An appellate court must proceed on the premise that the jury will have
faithfully abide by and obeyed the judge’s instruction.