Women jurors in the Isle of Man.

In 1920, Tynwald did not take the opportunity to open jury service up to Manx women, although contemporary English legislation did so at the same time as addressing women’s suffrage. This was a deliberate decision by Tynwald, revisited repeatedly until, at the very late date of 1980, women were able to sit in juries in Manx courts. 

In 1920 the Sex Disqualification Removal Bill was debated in Tynwald. Based on 1919 UK legislation, the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919, one clause would have allowed women to serve on Manx juries. The Bill began in the Legislative Council, as was common for significant Bills of the time, and was passed with little discussion. The Bill then moved to the House of Keys, where questions were raised as to whether there was any demand for Manx women to sit on juries, whether women defendants were treated unfairly by all male juries,  and whether the English law reform had been a success. An amendment removing juries from the ambit of the Bill was passed without a vote, and accepted by the Legislative Council.

In 1949 a Bill to allow women to serve on Manx juries, based again on the 1919 UK legislation, failed in the Legislative Council; and a motion in Tynwald in 1959 to add women to the roster for jury service failed to secure a majority in either the Keys or the Council.

It remained a live issue however, driven by the Women’s Institute from 1963, and a Bill whose sole purpose was to include women was introduced to the Keys by the government in 1965. The proposer of the Bill, however, stressed that the Women’s Institute focussed on legal change to permit women to serve, while the Bill introduced “is rather different, for it brings women onto equal terms to men and it makes jury service compellable”.  Two different amendments were proposed which would allow women to choose whether to be compellable for jury service – one an “opt-in”, the other an “opt-out”. The “opt-in” commanded more Keys support, and in an amended form that reflected this, passed the Keys by a margin of 20 votes to 1. It was described in the Isle of Man Examiner as giving “women … the best of both worlds … this gracious compromise”. 

The Bill, which now had compellable jury service for men and voluntary jury service for women, proceeded to the Legislative Council. The Attorney General expressed the view that the principle of voluntary service was entirely wrong, and had been reinforced on this by consultations with the UK Home Office. Other voices rejected the voluntary jury service for women only approach, and the Bill failed without a division. 

The issue was returned to in 1978, led by Mrs Hanson MHK. She was one of two women MHKs at the time, and a significant fault line developed between her approach, and that of the other woman MHK, Mrs Quayle. Mrs Hanson argued for women to be subject to compellable jury service obligations on the same basis as men; Mrs Quayle returned to the earlier theme of Manx debates, and indeed debates elsewhere in the common law world, and supported an opt-in for women who were willing to serve as jurors. The majority of the Keys followed the approach of Mrs Hanson, albeit with “a mother’s clause”.

The Jury Act 1980 as originally passed provided that “every person” registered as entitled to vote, between the ages of 18 and 65, and having been ordinarily resident in the British Islands for any period of five years since attaining the age of 13 was qualified to serve on all Manx juries as a civic duty. This was later amended to extend the maximum age to 75, and to start the period of normal residence from 18. The Deemster could excuse a prospective juror as they saw fit, but a specific clause treated some women differently from other prospective jurors. Section 12(4) provided that “an application by a woman that she is the mother of a child under sixteen years of age and has the care of that child shall be good and sufficient reason for that woman to be excused”. Authority to excuse a prospective juror was later transferred to the Chief Registrar, who may excuse a prospective juror for any good reason, and “personally undertaking the full-time care of a child under the age of 16”, or a person with a disability, or being themselves 71 years or older, shall be “a good and sufficient reason” (Jury Act 1980 s.12 as amended). The modern version of the section, unlike the one originally passed, is not limited to mothers, and is open to both men and women.The first woman to be called to a Manx jury was Mrs Ann Dugdale, “Grandmother of nine” (Isle of Man Examiner, 4/9/1981 at p1). She was called to join an otherwise male inquest jury, called by the Coroner, Henry Callow, in relation to a fatal road traffic accident involving a holidaymaker. Described by the press as a “cheerful grandmother”, she was joined, before the jury sat, by two other women jurors (Joceline Kelly and Ruth Kelly). The Coroner expressed pleasure at seeing women jurors, and seeing women take a full place in their civic duties. Mrs Dugdale recognised it was a historic moment, and took the view that “I’m all in favour of women in juries, and it’s not before time. We’re far more intelligent than men anyway”.