A judge has expressed concern about a law which allows parties in a case to object without reason to certain people when jury selection is being made.
“The only possible basis for objecting is gender, race, age or possibly class”, Mr Justice Colm MacEochaidh said.
He was speaking prior to empanelling jurors for a defamation action due to get underway in the High Court on Wednesday.
Under the Juries Act 1976, each side in a case can object to up to seven individuals who have been called for jury service.
The Act states they “may challenge without cause”.
Mr Justice MacEochaidh said this practice has been abolished in England.
Parties who object to a person must give reasons to the presiding judge in chambers so as not to embarrass that person, he said.
“To object without giving reasons, because you don’t like the look of them, is profoundly unfair”.
It has no place in a modern society, he said.
While Mr Justice MacEochaidh has no role in doing anything about the practice, “it is something that has to be looked at by people who look at these things”, he said.