It’s a hallowed democratic duty to serve as a juror but thousands of us are not even collecting a cheque for our troubles.

Ministry of Justice figures show more than $900,000 lies unclaimed by jurors in the High Court and District Court from the past five years.

That includes nearly a quarter of million dollars not banked by more than 3600 jurors in the 12 months to July 21 alone.

Altogether, more than 13,000 people have passed up payments in the past five years.

And more and more people seemed to be giving up on the cash, even though the ministry now offers to electronically transfer funds direct into a bank accounts.

During those five years the number of people attending for jury service dropped from 62,263 in the 2011 year to 47,456 in the year ended in July.

Even though a bank might baulk at cashing a cheque more than six months old the ministry says it will happily issue a new cheque, if asked.

The unclaimed money stays in the ministry’s coffers for six years and then goes to the Treasury. Even then a claim could still be made to Treasury for the money.

Payments to jurors range from $31 for a half day to $163 for a day if jurors were at court after 9pm. Payments were also available for parking and child care costs.

Reference: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/71141766/Jurors-keep-more-than-memories-of-jury-service-they-also-keep-the-cheque