1. These Regulations may be cited as the Jurors' Allowances Regulations 1978 and shall come into operation on 1st January 1979.

2.-(1) In these Regulations any reference to a juror shall include a reference to a person who, in obedience to a summons to serve on a jury, attends for service as a juror notwithstanding that he is not subsequently sworn and any reference to service as a juror shall be construed accordingly.

(2) In these Regulations the expression "the Act" means the Juries Act 1974; and the "relevant amount" in relation to an allowance referred to in these Regulations means an amount calculated in accordance with rates or scales for the time being determined for that allowance by the Lord Chancellor, with the consent of the Minister for the Civil Service.

(3) The Interpretation Act 1889 shall apply to the interpretation of these Regulations as it applies to an interpretation of an Act of Parliament.

3. Where a juror travels to or from court by railway or other public conveyance, there may be allowed in respect thereof the fare actually paid:

Provided that, unless for any special reason the court otherwise directs, only the amount of the second class fare shall be allowed for travel by railway.

4. Where a juror travels to or from court by hired vehicle there may be allowed in respect thereof-

(a)in the case of urgency or where no public service is reasonably available, the amount of the fare and any reasonable gratuity paid; and

(b)in any other case, the amount of the fare for travel by the appropriate public services.

5. Where a juror travels to or from court by private conveyance there may be allowed in respect thereof a sum not exceeding the relevant amount.

6. The subsistence allowance to which a juror is entitled under section 19 of the Act shall be the relevant amount.

7. Where in consequence of his attendance, a juror has incurred-

(i)any expenditure (other than on travelling or subsistence) to which he would not otherwise be subject, or

(ii)any loss of earnings, or benefit under the enactments relating to national insurance which he would otherwise have received,

the financial loss allowance, to which he is entitled under section 19 of the Act, shall be the amount of the said expenditure or loss provided it does not exceed the relevant amount.

8. The Jurors' Allowances Regulations 1977 are hereby revoked.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

These Regulations revoke and replace the Jurors' Allowances Regulations 1977 applying to service as a juror in the Crown Court, the High Court or a county court.

The principal change effected by these Regulations is that they do not prescribe maximum rates of allowances but instead provide that the maximum amounts payable in respect of the allowances are to be calculated in accordance with such rates or scales as may for the time being be determined by the Lord Chancellor with the consent of the Minister for the Civil Service in accordance with section 19 of the Juries Act 1974 as amended by paragraph 7 of Schedule 2 to the Administration of Justice Act 1977.