# The Criminal Procedure Rules 2025, Rule 2.2: Definitions

Extent: E+W

(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 2007;
‘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 2003 to give advice about law to justices of the peace;
‘legal representative’ means:
(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 2012, or
(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:
(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,
(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:
(i)under section 51(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 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
(ii)under section 206A of the Extradition Act 2003 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 1996; 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.
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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/909/rule/2.2 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/criminal-procedure-rules-2025/rule-2.2
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.