No person shall be allowed to serve on the trial jury of the superior court or on any trial jury in other courts for more than four weeks in any one year unless he or she is actually engaged in the trial of a case when the four weeks expire, in which case he or she shall be discharged as soon as the case is decided.
(Ga. L. 1872, p. 15, § 1; Code 1873, § 3938; Code 1882, § 3938; Penal Code 1895, § 865; Penal Code 1910, § 869; Code 1933, § 59-118; Ga. L. 2011, p. 59, § 1-6/HB 415; Ga. L. 2014, p. 862, § 3/HB 1078.)
The 2014 amendment, effective April 29, 2014, deleted the former first sentence, which read: "No person shall be compellable to serve on the grand or trial jury of the superior court or on any jury in other courts for more than four weeks in any year.", and inserted "trial" near the middle of this Code section.
Editor's notes.- Ga. L. 2011, p. 59, § 1-1/HB 415, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: "This Act shall be known and may be cited as the 'Jury Composition Reform Act of 2011.'"
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Word "year" refers to calendar year. Atlanta & C. Air-Line R.R. v. Ray, 70 Ga. 674 (1883).
Grand juror is not prevented from acting as talesman. Loeb v. State, 75 Ga. 258 (1885).
RESEARCH REFERENCES
Am. Jur. 2d.
- 47 Am. Jur. 2d, Jury, §§ 161, 163.
C.J.S.- 50A C.J.S., Juries, § 350.
ALR.
- Time jury may or must be kept together upon disagreement in civil case, 164 A.L.R. 1265.