Jury Duty - how to affirm rather than swear

kaki

Hi all,

Have Jury Duty tomorrow in Cork, and am an atheist.

I've heard not-so-pleasant stories about clerks and judges making a big deal of someone's refusal to swear on the Bible (should one be chosen as a member of the jury, of course), and as I'm of a fairly nervous disposition I wanted to check that I've understood how it will all go down tomorrow.

(1) When swearing a juror the registrar or other officer acting as registrar shall call out the juror's name and direct him to take the Testament in his hand and shall administer the oath to him in accordance with sections 18 and 19.
(2) The jurors shall be sworn separately.
(3) Any juror who objects to be sworn in the ordinary manner shall make his objection immediately after his name is called out and before the administration of the oath to him has begun.
(4) Every challenge of a juror shall be made immediately after his name is called out and before the administration of the oath to him has begun.
(5) If any juror refuses to be sworn or insists on being sworn in a manner not authorised by this Act or otherwise by law, he shall not be included in the jury then being sworn.
(6) For the purposes of this section the administration of an oath shall be deemed to be begun when the registrar or other officer begins to say the words of the oath to the juror being sworn.
(7) In this section and in the next following section the word "Testament" means, in the case of a person of the Christian faith, the New Testament and, in the case of a person of the Jewish faith, the Old Testament.
18.—(1) The ordinary manner of administering the oath shall be as follows:
The juror to be sworn shall hold the Testament in his uplifted hand and the registrar or other officer shall say to the juror the words "I swear by Almighty God that....." followed by the appropriate form of oath provided by section 19 and the juror shall repeat after him the words so spoken by him.

1888, c. 46
(2) The Oaths Act, 1888 (which provides for the making of an affirmation instead of an oath) and also every Act for the time being in force authorising an oath to be taken in a court in any particular manner shall apply to the oaths required by this Act to be taken by jurors.
(3) A juror who states that he has a religious belief but that he is neither of the Christian nor of the Jewish faith may, if the judge so permits, be sworn in any manner that the juror states to be binding on him.
(4) The oath shall be administered to every juror in the ordinary manner without question unless the juror appears to be physically incapable of taking the oath in that manner or objects to taking the oath in that manner and satisfies the judge that he is entitled to take the oath in some other manner.

How exactly do I object ("As an atheist I refuse to swear on the Bible")? Can I suggest affirming on a copy of the constitution for example? Should I bring a copy with me?

"if the judge so permits" means it's really at the discretion of the judge, so if he doesn't feel like pandering to this "whim" or feels I'm being disingenuous he could just refuse?

I'd love to hear from anyone who's had first hand experience of this.

schemingbohemia

Not as member of a jury but i had to give evidence in a work related case, when I got to the witness box the clerk had the bible in her hand - I just said quietly to her that I'd like to affirm, no big deal, she just picked up the text for affirming and read it out and I repeated it. Was a lot easier than I expected to be honest.

kaki

Wow, much easier than I thought!

That's a huge weight off my mind, thank you scheming!

NoQuarter

Thats exactly it, when you walk up to the witness box, the registrar will be ready to ask you to take the bible in your hand and just ask can you take the solemn affirmation instead. No big deal at all, its done all the time.

ResearchWill

If your number is called go to Jury box, when a sufficient number have been called the swearing will start. The judges tip staff will pass around the bible and the registrar will administer the oath. When it comes to your turn (if called) just say I would rather affirm. I have heard people on boards talking about Cork and issues, having seen many a juror sworn and many affirm I can assure you there is no issue. I would say a sizeable number now affirm.

BTW no one will even ask your reason, as many branches of the Christian churchs as well as non believers affirm.

Victor

kaki wrote: »

"if the judge so permits" means it's really at the discretion of the judge, so if he doesn't feel like pandering to this "whim" or feels I'm being disingenuous he could just refuse?

I imagine this is to stop people messing - "I belong to the Church of SpongeBob SquarePants and before affirming we must watch four episodes" or somesuch.

coylemj

While we're on the subject, do Muslims swear on the Koran or do they insist on affirming with no book in the hand?

cgarrad

Surly an atheist would not mind swearing on a book they consider fiction?

sdanseo

cgarrad wrote: »

Surly an atheist would not mind swearing on a book they consider fiction?

I think that's the point - the oath would count for nothing.

hullaballoo

coylemj wrote: »

While we're on the subject, do Muslims swear on the Koran or do they insist on affirming with no book in the hand?

They swear on the Koran.

Tigger

WHEN IN ROME..

fasttalkerchat

cgarrad wrote: »

Surly an atheist would not mind swearing on a book they consider fiction?

Why reinforce a practice that assumes we all have the same belief?
You might want to show that you are actually binded morally to tell the truth.

SeantheMan

I didn't take the oath during a big trial, when it came to me, I just said I don't believe in god, I'd like to affirm. She basically read out a similar thing to the "I swear on the bible" and I just repeated it

kaki

Just to follow up on this...

I was called to serve and when it was my turn to take the oath I just advised the court registrar that I wished to affirm.

He didn't skip a beat and launched straight into the affirmation.

Thanks again!

ResearchWill

kaki wrote: »

Just to follow up on this...

I was called to serve and when it was my turn to take the oath I just advised the court registrar that I wished to affirm.

He didn't skip a beat and launched straight into the affirmation.

Thanks again!

Out of curiosity how many on jury affirmed.

johnnyskeleton

ResearchWill wrote: »

Out of curiosity how many on jury affirmed.

I bet none until he did, then a load of them afterwards.

ResearchWill

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

I bet none until he did, then a load of them afterwards.

The reason I asked is because of what I have seen in juries in Cork a couple of people afirm in every jury I have seen sworn.

kaki

ResearchWill wrote: »

Out of curiosity how many on jury affirmed.

I was the third person to be sworn in, and the only one to affirm on this particular jury.