Qualifying for jury service

The following requirements qualified an individual for jury service (section 1):

• Male
• Between 21 and 60 years old
• At least one of:
  • Owning land worth at least £10 a year if rented
  • Having a lease of at least 21 years length of land with an annual rental value of at least £20
  • Being a householder paying the poor rate on a property that has at least fifteen windows and an annual rental value of at least £30 (Middlesex) or £20 (elsewhere in England)

The requirement in the Bill of Rights 1689 that jurors in cases of high treason be freeholders was abolished.

In Wales the qualifications were scaled to three-fifths of the above values.

Exemptions from jury service

Various groups were exempted from jury service by section 2:

• Peers of the realm
• Judges
• Church of England clergy
• Roman Catholic priests
• Persons whose only occupation was as a protestant preacher (or preacher and schoolmaster)
• Practising lawyers
• Officers of the courts
• Coroners
• Jailers
• Physicians and surgeons
• Apothecaries
• Officers of the Army and Royal Navy
• Maritime pilots
• Staff of the Royal Household
• Officers of HM Customs and Excise
• High sheriffs, high constables
• Parish clerks

Juries restricted to British subjects only

Service on a jury was restricted to natural born subjects of the Crown by section 3.

Special juries

Section 31 listed qualification for service on special juries. They were required to be one of:

• A person entitled to be addressed as esquire
• A person of 'higher degree' (i.e. upper class)
• A banker
• A merchant

Juries de medietate linguae

Section 47 reiterated that foreigners were entitled to have one-half of a jury judging them to consist of fellow foreigners. Those foreign jurors had to be available in the area where the trial was held, but were otherwise exempted from the qualifications required of jurors at the time (such as owing land).