The Judiciary's jury list contains the names of slightly more than 300,000 potential jurors - far short of the number of citizens eligible to serve, the South China Morning Post has found. A person has to be aged between 21 and 65 and have an education level of at least Form 7 to serve on a jury. According to the Census and Statistics Department's 2001 Population Census, up to 1.2 million people fall into that category. However, only about 310,000 people are currently on the jury list, the Judiciary said without explaining the shortfall. 'I wonder if the government is updating the list regularly,' said Albert Chen Hung-yee, dean of Hong Kong University's law faculty. 'It's not enough to have just about 310,00 people on the jury list.' Democratic Party legislator James To Kun-sun said: 'The government needs to explain where those people [not on the list] have gone. Even with the exempted groups of people, it won't account for such a huge discrepancy.' Human rights advocate Ho Hei-wah, director of the Society for Community Organisation, said there seemed to be an administrative error. 'Even people with Form 7 education and above are missing from the list.' The findings came as the century-old rule requiring a juror to have an education standard of Form 7 to guarantee proficiency in English is under attack as more trials are being heard in Chinese after the handover. The government is now reviewing the rule, with a report to be released this year. Last year, 78 per cent of the 17,449 trials held in all courts, except the Court of Final Appeal and specialised courts, were conducted in Chinese, the Judiciary said. At the High Court level, five out of 10 judges at the Court of Appeal and 11 or 44 per cent at the Court of First Instance are bilingual. A Judiciary spokesman said suitable candidates for jurors were identified by the Immigration Department. It submits the names to the Judiciary every week for compilation of a provisional jury list. A person would not be summoned to serve more than once in two years. Under the Jury Ordinance, people with mental and certain physical disabilities are spared from duty. Moreover, some professions are also deemed not suitable to serve because of possible prejudice. They include staff of disciplined forces and their spouses, journalists, medical doctors and people holding high positions in religious bodies. Police, believed to be the largest exempted group, have 28,695 disciplined staff. The Judiciary refused to disclose the number of exempted people, giving no explanation of the shortfall. Professor Chen said all registered voters should be allowed to serve on juries, to ensure a defendant's case was heard by their peers. 'Anyone who has the voting right should also have the right and obligation to serve as a juror,' Professor Chen said. As of last year, there were more than 2.9 million registered voters, according to the Registration and Electoral Commission. Mr Ho said the whole jury system should be reviewed. 'Language standards should not be an obstacle. The courts can do a lot to facilitate the trial process, such as bringing in translators,' he said. A certain academic standard was not necessary for a person to distinguish between good and evil, Mr Ho added. Graphic: JURY03GET