Rule 7 Form of complaint
Northern Ireland
A complaint may be made by the complainant in person or by his solicitor or by any other person authorised in that behalf.
Subject to any enactment, where it is intended that a summons only shall issue to require the attendance of any person, the complaint may be made either upon or without oath, and either in writing or not, as the lay magistrate receiving the complaint thinks fit.
Where a complaint is in writing it shall be signed by the person making it and by the justice receiving it.
Where it is intended that a warrant shall issue for the arrest of any person, the complaint shall be in writing and on oath of the complainant or of his solicitor or of any other person authorised in that behalf.
Any person against whom a complaint has been made in writing or his counsel or solicitor shall be entitled on request to receive from the clerk of petty sessions a copy of such complaint.
The original complaint shall be deposited with and, except as provided by Rule 28(2), Rule 42(1) or Rule 155(1), retained by the clerk of petty sessions.
In describing the property mentioned in any complaint—
where the property belongs to or is in the possession of partners, trustees, joint tenants, coparceners, or tenants in common, it is sufficient to refer to such property as that of any such persons who are named and of another or others, as the case may be, without naming them; or
where the property is that of a local or public authority, commissioners, directors, trustees, a body corporate or persons known by any other general designation it shall be sufficient to refer to it as the property of such persons without naming them individually.
It shall not be necessary in a complaint to specify or negative an exception, exemption, proviso, excuse or qualification, whether or not it accompanies the description of the offence or cause of complaint contained in the statutory provision giving rise to the offence or on which the complaint is founded.