Section 54 Adjournment and staysF2C1
England and Wales
A magistrates’ court may at any time, whether before or after beginning to hear a complaint, adjourn the hearing, and may do so, notwithstanding anything in this Act, when composed of a single justice.
The court may when adjourning either fix the time and place at which the hearing is to be resumed or, unless it remands the defendant under section 55 below, leave the time and place to be determined later by the court; but the hearing shall not be resumed at that time and place unless the court is satisfied that the parties have had adequate notice thereof.
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Annotations
Textual amendments
- F1
S. 54(3)(4) repealed (22.4.2014) by Crime and Courts Act 2013 (c. 22), s. 61(3), Sch. 10 para. 99 Table; S.I. 2014/954, art. 2(d) (with art. 3) (with transitional provisions and savings in S.I. 2014/956, arts. 3-11)
- F2
S. 54 heading substituted (6.4.2011) by The Family Procedure (Modification of Enactments) Order 2011 (S.I. 2011/1045), arts. 1, 6(a) (with art. 39)
Modifications
- C1
S. 54 applied (with modifications) (6.10.2025) by The Criminal Procedure Rules 2025 (S.I. 2025/909), rule 48.16
Notes on Part II
Modifications
- C1
Pt. 2 applied in part (4.5.2021) by S.I. 1981/552, rule 60A (as inserted by The Magistrates’ Courts (Amendment) Rules 2021 (S.I. 2021/459), rules 1(1), 2(2))