{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/magistrates-courts-rules-northern-ireland-1984/rule-43",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/magistrates-courts-rules-northern-ireland-1984/rule-43.json",
  "legislation": "nisr/1984/225",
  "legislation_title": "Magistrates’ Courts Rules (Northern Ireland) 1984",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/magistrates-courts-rules-northern-ireland-1984",
  "path": "rule/43",
  "kind": "rule",
  "number": "43",
  "heading": "Conditions to be complied with before preliminary ... inquiry",
  "text": "Where an adult is charged with an indictable offence specified in Schedule 2 to the Order, a lay magistrate (other than a district judge (magistrates’ court)) shall not proceed to conduct a ... preliminary inquiry unless he is informed that—\n(a) the prosecutor will not in any event consent to summary trial of the charge under Article 45 of the Order; or\n(b) a district judge (magistrates’ court) has decided that it is not expedient to deal with the charge summarily.",
  "extent": "N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Words in rule 43 omitted (17.10.2022) by virtue of The Magistrates’ Courts (Amendment) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2022 (S.R. 2022/218), rules 1, 3(9)(b) (with rule 2); S.R. 2022/221, art. 2(a)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F2",
      "text": "Words in rule 43 heading omitted (17.10.2022) by virtue of The Magistrates’ Courts (Amendment) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2022 (S.R. 2022/218), rules 1, 3(9)(a) (with rule 2); S.R. 2022/221, art. 2(a)"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/1984/225/rule/43",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T03:32:12.928261+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."
}