{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/crown-court-rules-northern-ireland-1979/rule-72",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/crown-court-rules-northern-ireland-1979/rule-72.json",
  "legislation": "nisr/1979/90",
  "legislation_title": "The Crown Court Rules (Northern Ireland) 1979",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/crown-court-rules-northern-ireland-1979",
  "path": "rule/72",
  "kind": "rule",
  "number": "72",
  "heading": "Application to make summons issues on application ineffective",
  "text": "(1) This rule applies to an application under section 51D of the Act.\n(2) The application shall be made in writing to the chief clerk and shall—\n(a) state that the applicant was not served with notice of the application to issue the summons and that he was neither present nor represented at any hearing of that application; and\n(b) set out the reasons why the applicant considers that he cannot give any evidence likely to be material evidence or, as the case may be, produce any document or thing likely to be material evidence.\n(3) On receiving the application, the chief clerk shall—\n(a) serve notice of the application on the person on whose application the witness summons was issued;\n(b) refer the application, where the offence charged is a schedule offence, to such judge as has been designated by the Lord Chief Justice for the purposes of determining the application;\n(c) refer the application, in any other case—\n(i) if the trial has started, to the trial judge; or\n(ii) if the application is received before the start of the trial, either to the judge who has been designated to conduct the trial, or if no judge has been designated for that purpose, to the judge who issued the witness summons to which the application relates.\n(4) The court shall not grant or, as the case may be, refuse the application unless the applicant and the person on whose application the witness summons was issued have been given an opportunity of making representations, whether at a hearing or (where they agree to do so) in writing without a hearing.\n(5) In a case where the witness summons to which the application relates imposed a requirement to produce any document or thing, then if—\n(a) the applicant can produce that document or thing, but\n(b) he seeks to satisfy the court that the document or thing is not likely to be material evidence,\nthe applicant must, unless the judge directs otherwise, arrange for the document or thing to be available at the hearing of the application.\n(6) Any hearing under this rule shall, unless the judge directs otherwise, take place in private and the proceedings at the hearing shall be recorded.\n(7) The chief clerk shall notify the applicant and the person on whose application the witness summons was issued of the decision of the court in relation to the application.",
  "extent": "N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/1979/90/rule/72",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T04:01:57.370490+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}