VPRS 17078 Draft Jury Roll

Full description

The draft jury roll appears to be the printed and bound lists provided by the electoral office of citizens eligible for jury duty. The names of citizens were randomly chosen from the electoral register. They contain the name, addresses and occupations of potential jurors. They were complied for use in the Deputy Sherriff's office, who was responsible for the provision of individuals to perform jury duty.
They are called draft rolls as this is the title on the spine of the volumes. In this case this means preliminary. The draft rolls are the potential jurors. The Jury list is a list of potential jurors that arrive in Court and are awaiting empanelment as a member of a jury. The list is prepared for the use of Judge and Counsel.

Juries have been present at Trials in Victoria since the earliest colonial days. The Juries List in this format was probably formalised under the various Juries Acts in the 20th century. Lists are still compiled for Court, but are no longer printed and bound in this manner.

From 1993, the administration of juries, previously the Sheriff's responsibility, became a separate branch of operations managed by the Deputy Sheriff's Juries.

In Victoria, the Juries Act 2000 (Vic) provides for the appointment of a Juries Commissioner and for Deputy Juries Commissioners to assist the Commissioner. The Office of the Juries Commissioner is a stand-alone office, reporting administratively to the Supreme Court.