OpenLegislation

Rule 2.2 DefinitionsI1

England and Wales

Changes not yet applied. Later legislation changes this provision in ways not yet written into the text below:

(1)

In these Rules, unless the context makes it clear that something different is meant:

  • ‘advocate’ means a person who is entitled to exercise a right of audience in the court under section 13 of the Legal Services Act 2007f1;

  • ‘authorised court officer’ has the meaning given by rule 2.4;

  • ‘business day’ means any day except Saturday, Sunday, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday or a bank holiday;

  • ‘court’ means a tribunal with jurisdiction over criminal cases. It includes a judge, recorder, District Judge (Magistrates’ Court), lay justice and, when exercising their judicial powers, the Registrar of Criminal Appeals and an authorised court officer;

  • ‘court officer’ means the appropriate member of the staff of a court;

  • ‘justices’ legal adviser’ means a person authorised under section 28 of the Courts Act 2003f2 to give advice about law to justices of the peace;

  • ‘legal representative’ means:

    1. (i)

      the person for the time being named as a party’s representative in any legal aid representation order made under section 16 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012f3, or

    2. (ii)

      subject to that, the person named as a party’s representative in any notice for the time being given under rule 46.2 (Notice of appointment, etc. of legal representative: general rules), provided that person is entitled to conduct litigation in the court under section 13 of the Legal Services Act 2007;

  • ‘live link’ means a live audio link or a live video link and:

    1. (i)

      ‘live audio link’ means a live telephone link or other arrangement by which a person taking part in a hearing can hear, and be heard by, everyone else who is taking part and who is not in the same place as that person,

    2. (ii)

      ‘live video link’ means a live television link or other arrangement by which a person taking part in a hearing can see and hear, and be seen and heard by, everyone else who is taking part and who is not in the same place as that person;

  • ‘live link direction’ means a direction that:

    1. (i)

      under section 51(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003f4 requires or permits a person to take part through a live audio link or a live video link in the proceedings listed in section 51(3) of that Act, or

    2. (ii)

      under section 206A of the Extradition Act 2003f5 requires a person to take part through a live link in a hearing in proceedings under Part 1 or Part 2 of that Act;

  • ‘Practice Direction’ means the Lord Chief Justice’s Criminal Practice Directions, as amended, and ‘Criminal Costs Practice Direction’ means the Lord Chief Justice’s Practice Direction (Costs in Criminal Proceedings), as amended;

  • ‘public interest ruling’ means a ruling about whether it is in the public interest to disclose prosecution material under sections 3(6), 7A(8) or 8(5) of the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996f6; and

  • ‘Registrar’ means the Registrar of Criminal Appeals or a court officer exercising a function of the Registrar.

(2)

Special definitions and definitions of some other expressions are in the rules in which they apply.

F1...

Annotations

Textual amendments

F1

Rule 2.2 Note omitted (23.2.2026) by virtue of The Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2026 (S.I. 2026/47), rule 2, Sch. para. 1

Commencement

I1

Rule 2.2 in force at 6.10.2025, see Preamble

Footnotes

f1

2007 c. 29.

f2

2003 c. 39; section 28 is substituted by section 3 of, and paragraph 26 of the Schedule to, the Courts and Tribunals (Judiciary and Functions of Staff) Act 2018 (c. 33).

f3

2012 c. 10.

f4

2003 c. 44; section 51 was substituted by section 200 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (c. 32).

f5

2003 c. 41; section 206A was inserted by section 78 of the Policing and Crime Act 2009 (c. 26) and amended by section 208 of, and paragraph 2 of Schedule 20 to, the Police, Crime Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (c. 32).

f6

1996 c. 25; section 7A was inserted by section 37 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (c. 44).