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Administration of Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1933

23 & 24 Geo. 5 c. 36 · Enacted 28 July 1933 · Extends to England and Wales

Up to date with all changes known to legislation.gov.uk, revised to 26 May 2015.

An Act to abolish grand juries and amend the law as to the presentment of indictments; to provide for the summary determination of questions as to liability for death duties; to make provision for alternative procedure for the recovery of Crown debts and to enable proceedings by the Crown to be instituted in county courts in appropriate cases; to amend the procedure as to certain prerogative writs and as to trials by jury in the High Court; to amend the law as to the payment of costs by and to the Crown; to provide for the further delegation of the jurisdiction of the Master in Lunacy; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.

[28th July 1933]C1I1C2

Annotations to the whole text

Modifications

C1

Ss. 2, 10(1)(2), and Sch. 2 were originally published in SIF 39:1 (Criminal Law; General) and ss. 7, 9 and 10 in SIF 39A (Crown Proceedings)

C2

By Criminal Justice Act 1991 (c. 53, SIF 39:1), S. 10(1), Sch. 12 para. 23; S.I. 1991/2208, art. 2(1), Sch.1 it is provided (14.10.1991) that in relation to any time before the commencement of s. 70 of that 1991 Act (which came into force on 1.10.1992 by S.I. 1992/333, art. 2(2), Sch. 2) references in any enactment amended by that 1991 Act, to youth courts shall be construed as references to Juvenile Courts.

Commencement

I1

Act wholly in force at 1.9.1933 by s. 10(4) (now repealed).

Contents

  1. 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Repealed
  2. 2Procedure for indictment of offenders.
  3. 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Repealed
  4. 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Repealed
  5. 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Repealed
  6. 6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Repealed
  7. 7Costs in Crown proceedings.
  8. 8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Repealed
  9. 9Saving for proceedings affecting His Majesty in His private capacity.
  10. 10Short title, extent, repeal and commencement.
  11. Schedule 1. . .
  12. Schedule 2: Consequential Adaptations of Enactments.
  13. 1Paragraph 1
  14. 2Paragraph 2 Repealed
  15. 3Paragraph 3 Repealed
  16. 4Paragraph 4 Repealed
  17. Schedule 3. . .

1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .F1

2Procedure for indictment of offenders.C1

(1)

Subject to the provisions of this section, a bill of indictment charging any person with an indictable offence may be preferred by any person before a court in which the person charged may lawfully be indicted for that offence F1... and it shall thereupon become an indictment and be proceeded with accordingly:

F2...

(2)

Subject as hereinafter provided no bill of indictment charging any person with an indictable offence shall be preferred unless either—

(a)

the person charged has been F3sent for trial for the offence; or

F4(aa)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(ab)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(ac)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

C2(b)

the bill is preferred F5by the direction of the F6criminal division of the Court of Appeal or by the direction or with the consent of a judge of the High Court F7...: F8or

(F9ba)

the bill is preferred with the consent of a judge of the Crown Court following a declaration by the court under paragraph 8(1) of Schedule 17 to the Crime and Courts Act 2013 (court approval of deferred prosecution agreement); or

(c)

the bill is preferred under section 22B(3)(a) of the M1Prosecution of Offences Act 1985.

Provided that—

F10(i)

where the person charged has been sent for trial, the bill of indictment against him may include, either in substitution for or in addition to any count charging an offence specified in the notice under F11section 51D(1) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, any counts founded on material which, in pursuance of regulations made under paragraph 1 of Schedule 3 to that Act, was served on the person charged, being counts which may lawfully be joined in the same indictment;

F12(iA)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(iB)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(ii)

a charge of a previous conviction of an offence F13... may, notwithstanding that it was not included in F14such notice or in any such direction or consent as aforesaid, be included in any bill of indictment

F15. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(3)

If a bill of indictment F16has been preferred otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of the last foregoing subsection F17..., the indictment shall be liable to be quashed:

Provided that—

(a)

if the bill contains several counts, and the said provisions have been complied with as respects one or more of them, those counts only that were wrongly included shall be quashed under this subsection; and

(b)

where a person who has been F18sent for trial is convicted on any indictment or any count of an indictment, that indictment or count shall not be quashed under this subsection in any proceedings on appeal, unless application was made at the trial that it should be so quashed.

F194)(5)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(6)

F20F21Criminal Procedure Rules may make provision for carrying this section into effect and F22, in particular, provision as to the manner in which and the time at which bills of indictment are to be preferred before any court and the manner in which application is to be made for the consent of a judge of the High Court F23... for the preferment of a bill of indictment.

F24(6ZA)

Where a bill of indictment is preferred in accordance with subsections (1) and (2), no objection to the indictment may be taken after the commencement of the trial by reason of any failure to observe any rules under subsection (6).

(6ZB)

For the purposes of subsection (6ZA) the trial commences at the time when a jury is sworn to consider the issue of guilt or whether the accused did the act or made the omission charged, or, if the court accepts a plea of guilty before the time when a jury is sworn, when that plea is accepted.

(6ZC)

The references in subsection (6ZB) to the time when a jury is sworn include the time when that jury would be sworn but for the making of an order under Part 7 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003.

F25(6A)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(7)

F26... Nothing in this section shall affect any enactment restricting the right to prosecute in particular classes of case.

(8)

The provisions of any enactment passed before the commencement of this Act shall have effect subject to the adaptations and modifications specified in the Second Schedule to this Act.

3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .F1

4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .F1

5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .F1

6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .F1

7Costs in Crown proceedings.C1

(1)

In any civil proceedings to which the Crown is a party in any court having power to award costs in cases between subjects, and in any arbitration to which the Crown is a party, the costs of and incidental to the proceedings shall be in the discretion of the court or arbitrator to be exercised in the same manner and on the same principles as in cases between subjects, and the court or arbitrator shall have power to make an order for the payment of costs by or to the Crown accordingly:

Provided that—

(a)

in the case of proceedings to which by reason of any enactment or otherwise the Attorney-General, a Government department or any officer of the Crown as such is required to be made a party, the court or arbitrator shall have regard to the nature of the proceedings and the character and circumstances in which the Attorney-General, the department or officer of the Crown appears, and may in the exercise of its or his discretion order any other party to the proceedings to pay the costs of the Attorney-General, department or officer, whatever may be the result of the proceedings; and

(b)

nothing in this section shall affect the power of the court or arbitrator to order, or any enactment providing for, the payment of costs out of any particular fund or property, or any enactment expressly relieving any department or officer of the Crown of the liability to pay costs.

(2)

In this section the expression “civil proceedings” includes proceedings by petition of right and proceedings by the Crown in the High Court or F1the county court for the recovery of fines or penalties, and references to proceedings to which the Crown is a party include references to proceedings to which the Attorney-General or any Government department or any officer of the Crown as such is a party, so, however, that the Crown shall not be deemed to be a party to any proceedings by reason only that the proceedings are proceedings by the Attorney-General on the relation of some other person.

F2(3)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .F1

9Saving for proceedings affecting His Majesty in His private capacity.

Nothing in this Act shall apply to proceedings affecting His Majesty in His private capacity.

10Short title, extent, repeal and commencement.

(1)

This Act may be cited as the Administration of Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1933.

(2)

This Act shall not extend to Scotland or to Northern Ireland.

3)(4)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F1

Schedule 1. . .F1

1

References in any enactment to the preferment of a bill of indictment before or the finding of an indictment by a grand jury shall (whatever words are used) include F1reference to the preferment F2... of a bill of indictment under this Act.

2

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F1

3

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F1

4

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F1

Schedule 3. . .F1