Court of Criminal Appeal
| DOI | 10.1177/002201835301700303 |
| Published date | 01 July 1953 |
| Date | 01 July 1953 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Court of Criminal Appeal
PRACTICE ON
TRANSFER
OF CASES
BETWEEN
COURTS OF
QUARTER SESSIONS
ON
an
application for leave to appeal against conviction,
the
Court (Lord Goddard C.]., Byrne
and
Gerrard
]].)
stated
that
there was no ground for granting
the
application,
but
that
it
was desirable
to
state
what
had
happened in
the
case
and
to
give a ruling or direction to
quarter
sessions with regard to
the
practice where
an
indictment found
at
one
quarter
sessions was for
any
reason ordered to be tried
at
another quarter sessions.
The prisoner in this case, which was before
the
Court
on 23rd February, 1953 (1953, 1W.L.R. 491), was origin-
ally indicted
at
the
midsummer quarter sessions for
the
County Borough of Dudley
and
charged with obtaining
money
by
false pretences.
He
was tried before
the
re-
corder
and
the
jury
disagreed.
The
recorder
then
made
an
order for
the
case to be retried
at
the
West Bromwich
Borough Quarter Sessions.
The
recorder of West Brom-
wich, according
to
anote which
had
been indorsed on
the
indictment, felt a difficulty
about
trying
the
case because
he
had
been concerned professionally with
the
man
on
other occasions when he
had
been charged with crime, so
that
the
recorder felt
that
it
would
not
be very satisfactory
for
him
to deal
with
the
case.
He
accordingly ordered
that
the
indictment should be tried
at
the
Worcestershire County
Quarter Sessions. No formal indorsement was made on
the
indictment and, when
it
reached
the
Worcestershire
Quarter Sessions,
the
chairman
at
Worcester refused
to
try
the
case because an indorsement
had
not
been
put
on
the
indictment saying
that
it
was to be tried
at
the
Worces-
tershire Quarter Sessions.
He
accordingly sent it back
to
West Bromwich,
and
then
the
Recorder of West Bromwich
sent it
to
be tried
at
Wolverhampton, where
it
was eventu-
ally tried.
In
view of these facts,
the
Lord Chief Justice
stated
248
COURT
OF
CRIMINAL
APPEAL
249
that
it
was
rather
unfortunate
that
an
indictment should
be sent backwards
and
forwards in
this
manner merely
because an indorsement
had
not
been set
out
on it. Section
14 of
the
Criminal Justice Act 1925, which is
the
Act
under which,
if
it
is inconvenient or impossible for
any
reason
that
a case should be tried
at
one assizes or
quarter
sessions
it
may
be sent for
trial
to
another assizes or
quarter
sessions, does
not
say
that
the
court which is sending
the
case for trial
must
indorse on
it
an
order
that
the
case
is to be sent there.
The
proper course is, said
the
Lord
Chief Justice, for
the
clerk of
the
peace 1;0 forward all
the
documents in
the
case together with
the
indictment,
and
then
the
court
can
be informed
that
the
case has been sent
forward for trial from
the
foreign court. The only pro-
visions with regard
to
the
section are contained in
the
Assizes
and
Quarter Sessions (Convenient Court) Order,
1926, paragraph
1:
"(c) all recognizances, inquisitions,
depositions (including exhibits thereto)
and
documents
shall be
transmitted
to
the
proper officer of
the
court
at
which
the
person is to be tried or
retried;
(d)
any
com
...
missions, writs, precepts, indictments, recognizances, pro-
ceedings
and
documents
may
be altered so far as
may
be
necessary for
the
purpose of giving effect to
the
said section
14
and
to
this Order".
The provisions of
that
Order only say
that
indictments
may
be altered so far as necessary for
the
purpose of giving
effect
to
s. 14. Section 14 enables
the
foreign court
to
try
the
case,
and
there would be no reason why, when
the
matter
was before
the
Worcestershire Quarter Sessions,
and
those sessions were informed
that
the
indictment
had
been received from West Bromwich,
the
court of
trial
in
the
indictment should
not
have
been altered
to
the
General
Quarter Sessions of
the
Peace for
the
County of Worcester.
They
could have altered
it
themselves. The
Lord
Chief
Justice said
that
quarter
sessions should understand
that
neither
the
statute
nor
the
order compels
the
remitting
court to alter
the
documents, although, no doubt,
it
would
be very desirable
that
they
should
put
some indorsement
on
the
indictment
saying:
"Ordered to be tried
at
such
and
such acourt".
When
the
Worcestershire
Quarter
Sessions received
the
indictment
they
could have
been
informed
by
counselor
the
clerk of
the
peace
that
it
had
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