[1] Jury Act 1898 (W.A.).
[2] Ibid s5. Section 5 provides:
Every man (except as hereinafter excepted) between the ages of twenty-one and sixty years residing within the said Colony, and who shall have within the Colony, either in his own name or in trust for him, real estate of the value of fifty pounds sterling, clear of all incumbrances, or a clear personal estate of the value of one hundred and fifty pounds sterling or upwards, shall be qualified and liable to serve as a common juror in all civil and criminal proceedings and on any inquisition in the said Colony within a radius of thirty-six miles from his residence.
[3] A number of these Bills also sought additional amendments the 1898 Jury Act. The 1924 Bill sought to abolish special juries, ensure secrecy in regard to the jurors elected for trials. Additional provisions included providing extra payment for jurors and exempting JPs. See Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 26 August 1924, 493. The 1938 Bill only dealt with the inclusion of women on juries. See Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 7 September 1938, 623. The 1953 Bill required that a panel of jurors be selected randomly rather than by alphabetical order and that a decision of 10 out of 12 jurors would be sufficient for a verdict. See Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 23 September 1953, 724. The 1954 ,1955 and 1956 Bills only sought to include women as jurors. See Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 28 July 1954, 745 and 25 August, 1955, 332 and 4 December 1956, 2845.
[4] A brief summary of women and jury duty in W.A. is provided in Dianne Davidson, Women on the Warpath: Feminists of the First Wave (1997) 172-173 and 255-258 but the focus is on the involvement of the Women’s Service Guilds in WA. Other texts dealing briefly with the issue include: K.J. McKimm, ‘Changes in the jury system: the Jury Act 1977 (N.S.W.).’ (1977) April Australian Current Law Digest DT89-DT92. Peter Duff et al, ‘The constitution of juries in New South Wales: a historical perspective’ in M.Findlay et al (eds) Jury Management in New South Wales (1994) 228.
[5] See for example Carol Weisbrod, ‘Images of the Woman Juror’ (1986) 9 Harvard Women’s Law Journal 59-82; Cristina M. Rodriguez, ‘Clearing the Smoke-Filled Room: Women Jurors and the Disruption of an Old Boys’ Network in Nineteenth-Century America’ (1998-1999) 108 Yale Law Journal 1805-1844; Barbara Allen Babcock, ‘A Place in the Palladium: Women’s Rights and Jury Service’ (1993) 61(4) U. Cincinnati Law Review 1139-1180; Joanna L. Grossman, ‘Women’s Jury Service: Right of Citizenship or Privilege of Difference? (1994) 46 Stanford Law Review 1115-1160; Susan A. Lentz, ‘Without Peers: A History of Women and Trial by Jury Part Two-The Law of Jury Service in the Twentieth Century’ 2000 11(4) Women and Criminal Justice 81-101; Gretchen Ritter, ‘Jury Service and Women’s Citizenship Before and After the Nineteenth Amendment’ 2002 (20) Law and History Review 479-515.
[6] Aboriginal men were technically eligible to sit on juries from 1898 providing they satisfied the property qualification. However, in practice, few, if any Aboriginal men would have been able to satisfy this qualification.
[7] See Constitution Acts Amendment Act 1899 (WA).
[8] Diana Davidson, Women on the Warpath: Feminists of the First Wave (1997) 172.
[9] Women’s Legal Status Act 1923 (W.A).
[10] Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 4 September 1924, 634 (Hon. J.C. Wilcock, Minister for Justice and Railways).
[11] For example, women were eligible to sit in Parliament from 1920 and the Justice’s Act was amended in 1919 to enable women to be appointed as Justices of the Peace
[12] Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 4 September 1924, 627 (Mr Teesdale, Member for Roeburne).
[13] Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 4 September 1924, 626 (Mr Chesson, Member for Cue).
[14] Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 4 September 1924, 626 (Mr Teesdale, Member for Roeburne).
[15] Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 14 October 1953, 1060 (Hon. E. Nulsen. Member for Eyre and The Minister for Justice).
[16] Ibid 1061.
[17] Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 15 September 1955, 614 (Hon. A.F.Watts –Member for Stirling).
[18] Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 4 September 1924, 633( Mr Marshall- Member for Murchison).
[19] Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 7 September 1938, 814 (Mrs Cardell-Oliver – Member for Subiaco).
[20] Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Council, 4 October 1955, 941 (Hon R.F.Hutchison )
[21] All six Bills and the successful 1957 Bill were introduced into Parliament during times when the ALP was in government. However, throughout this period the Liberal based parties and Country Party collectively dominated the Legislative Council. This meant that it was impossible for legislation to be passed without the support of non ALP parties. For further information about the structure of the Western Australian Parliament see Harry Phillips et al, Representing the People: Parliamentary Government in Western Australia (1998).
[22] Many of the debates that occurred on the issue of women and jury duty demonstrate the use of binary oppositions to explain women and their role in society. Women are irrational whereas men are rational. Women rear children in the private sphere of the home whilst men act in the public sphere of the workplace. Many feminist scholars have demonstrated how the use of these oppositions can establish the basis on which relations between men and women are understood. Joan Scott for example, argues that the binary opposition (male/female) establishes meanings that are literally unrelated to the gender or the body. Frances Olsen argues that the binary system operates in a hierarchy such that the side accorded lesser value is associated with woman. It seems that it is this view of women as other and somehow less than men that permeates many of the debates on jury duty. For further discussion of this issue see Joan Scott, ‘Deconstructing Equality- Versus- Difference: Or the Uses of Poststructuralist Theory for Feminism’ (1988) 14 Feminist Studies 33 and Frances Olsen, ‘Feminism and Critical Legal Theory: An American Perspective’ (1990) 18 International Journal of the Sociology of Law 199.
[23] Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 2 September 1924, 590 (Mr Hughes- Member for East Perth).
[24] Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 7 September 1938, 626 (Mrs Cardell-Oliver – Member for Subiaco).
[25] Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly,
[25] August 1955, 333 (Hon. E. Nulsen- Minister for Justice and Member for Eyre)
[26] Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 2 September 1924, 591 (Mr Griffiths – Member for Avon).
[27] Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Council, 28 September 1955, 830 (Hon. C.W.D. Barker).
[28] Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 11 September 1924, 741 (Mr Sampson- Member for Swan).
[29] Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 11 September 1924, 741 (Mr Marshall- Member for Murchison).
[30] Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Council, 7 September 1954, 1432 (Hon E.M. Heenan).
[31] Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Council, 7 September 1954, 1430 (Hon R.F. Hutchinson).
[32] Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Council, 22 November 1938, 2272 (Hon G. Fraser).
[33] Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Council, 22 November 1938, 2272 (Hon. E.M.Heenan).
[34] Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Council, 7 September 1954, 1435 (Hon. E.M.Heenan).
[35] Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 29 July 1954, 782 (Hon. Dame Florence Cardell-Oliver- Member for Subiaco).
[36] Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Council, 24 August 1954, 1196 (Hon. C.H.Simpson).
[37] Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Council, 11 August 1954, 986 ( Hon. C.H.Henning).
[38] Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Council, 24 August 1954, 1198 (Hon. C.W. Barker).
[39] See Juries Act 1957 (W.A.) This Act repealed the 1898 Jury Act. Under s5(1) A person was not qualified if he or she was not a natural born or naturalised subject of Her Majesty, has been convicted of a crime, was an undischarged bankrupt or could not read and write in the English language. Although women were eligible for jury service under the same criteria used for men, women were able to request that they were removed from the register. Section 5(2) provided that: A woman qualified and liable to serve as a juror may cancel, subject to the provisions of subsection(5) of this section, her liability to serve, by service of written notice to that effect on the jury officer for the jury district in which she lives.