# The Criminal Procedure Rules 2025, Rule 31.1: When this Part applies

Extent: E+W

(1) This Part applies where a magistrates’ court or the Crown Court can—
(a) make, vary, renew, discharge or revoke a behaviour order; or
(b) impose a bind over.
(2) In this Part—
(a) ‘behaviour order’ means an order—
(i) that prohibits a defendant from doing something described in the order, or requires a defendant to do something described in the order, or both,
(ii) made under a power conferred on the court by an Act of Parliament,
(iii) made to achieve a purpose specified by that Act, and
(iv) made as well as, or instead of, passing a sentence, or in any other circumstances specified by that Act; and
(b) ‘bind over’ means an order that requires a person to enter into a recognisance—
(i) to keep the peace and be of good behaviour, or
(ii) (in the Crown Court only) to come up for judgment if called on.
(3) A reference to ‘hearsay evidence’ in this Part is a reference to evidence consisting of hearsay within the meaning of section 1(2) of the Civil Evidence Act 1995.
[Note. In the circumstances set out in the Acts listed beneath, the court can make a behaviour order—
(a) on conviction, under—
(i) sections 14A and 14G of the Football Spectators Act 1989 (football banning order with additional requirements);
(ii) section 19 of the Serious Crime Act 2007 (serious crime prevention order),
(iii) section 14 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (slavery and trafficking prevention order),
(iv) section 19 of the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 (prohibition order),
(v) section 20 of the Immigration Act 2016 (labour market enforcement order),
(vi) section 19 of the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 (knife crime prevention order),
(vii) section 331 of the Sentencing Act 2020 (criminal behaviour order),
(viii) section 342A of the 2020 Act (serious violence reduction order),
(ix) section 345 of the 2020 Act (sexual harm prevention order),
(x) section 358A of the 2020 Act(child criminal exploitation prevention order),
(xi) section 360 of the 2020 Act (restraining order),
(xii) section 364B of the 2020 Act(stalking protection order),
(xiii) section 366 of the 2020 Act (parenting order),
(xiv) section 376 of the 2020 Act (binding over of parent or guardian of convicted young defendant to take proper care of the defendant and exercise proper control),
(xv) section 31(3) of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 (domestic abuse protection order),
(xvi) section 20 of the Public Order Act 2023 (serious disruption prevention order);
(b) otherwise, under—
(i) section 5A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (restraining order on acquittal, where the Crown Court allows an appeal against conviction or where the Court of Appeal remits a case to the Crown Court),
(ii) paragraph 3 of Schedule 2 to the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 (female genital mutilation protection order made in criminal proceedings for a genital mutilation offence),
(iii) section 19A of the Serious Crime Act 2007(serious crime prevention order on acquittal or where the Crown Court allows an appeal against conviction),
(iv) section 14 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (slavery and trafficking prevention order on finding of not guilty by reason of insanity or on finding of disability),
(v) section 2A of the Stalking Protection Act 2019(stalking protection order on acquittal, on finding of not guilty by reason of insanity or on finding of disability, or where a court allows an appeal against conviction),
(vi) section 31(5) or (6) of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 (domestic abuse protection order on acquittal or where the Crown Court allows an appeal against conviction).
(vii) section 50 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026(child criminal exploitation prevention order on acquittal, on finding of not guilty by reason of insanity or on finding of disability, or where the Crown Court allows an appeal against conviction).
(c) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(d) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(e) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Under section 1 of the Justices of the Peace Act 1361, section 1(7) of the Justices of the Peace Act 1968 and the inherent powers recognised by those provisions a magistrates’ court or the Crown Court can bind over to keep the peace and be of good behaviour a person who or whose case is before the court, by requiring that person to enter into a recognisance (a formal undertaking to pay a specified sum in the event of failure to comply), or to give a surety, or both.
Under section 79 of the Senior Courts Act 1981 the Crown Court can release a convicted defendant pending sentence on a recognisance to come up for judgment if called on and meanwhile to be of good behaviour.
Section 1(2) of the Civil Evidence Act 1995 defines hearsay as meaning “a statement made otherwise than by a person while giving oral evidence in the proceedings which is tendered as evidence of the matters stated”. Section 13 of that Act defines a statement as meaning “any representation of fact or opinion, however made”.]

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/909/rule/31.1 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/criminal-procedure-rules-2025/rule-31.1/enacted
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.