Criminal Justice Administration Act 1956
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1956 c. 34 |
| Year | 1956 |
Criminal Justice Administration Act , 1956
(4 & 5 Eliz. 2) 34
An Act to make new arrangements as to the administration of criminal justice in Lancashire and matters connected therewith, and to amend the law of England and Wales as to recorders and courts of quarter sessions in boroughs, as to the retirement or removal of chairmen and deputy chairmen of quarter sessions and of stipendiary magistrates in London, as to the liability of boroughs to contribute to the costs of magistrates' courts and courts of quarter sessions for the county and as to the constitution for purposes of appeals of the court of quarter sessions for the county of London, to make further provision about shorthand notes taken on trials on indictment, and to transfer to the Lord Chancellor or the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster certain functions of the Secretary of State and to the Rule Committee of the Supreme Court the power to make rules of court under the Criminal Appeal Act, 1907, and rules under the Indictments Act, 1915.
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I
in LancashireNew Arrangements as to Administration of Justice
1 Establishment of new courts at Liverpool and Manchester for criminal trials.
(1) There may be set up in accordance with this section two new courts for the purpose of exercising such jurisdiction as is commonly conferred on courts of assize by the commissions of oyer and terminer and of gaol delivery, namely—
(a ) a court to act in and for the West Derby division of Lancashire and to be known as ‘the Crown Court at Liverpool’; and
(b ) a court to act in and for the Salford division of Lancashire, and to be known as ‘the Crown Court at Manchester’.
(2) Each of the courts shall be set up by Her Majesty's commissions of oyer and terminer and gaol delivery for the court's division, addressed to the judges for the time being of the High Court and to the recorders for the time being of Liverpool and Manchester, and assigning to them the duty to exercise jurisdiction under the commissions as judges of the court.
(3) In addition to those judges and recorders, the commissions may name as judges of the court any persons who may be named as commissioners in commissions of assize.
(4) The court so set up shall be a superior court of record, and shall have a seal; and, subject to the provisions of this Act, references in any enactment to a court of assize and to assizes (including references in this Act and in enactments passed after this Act) shall respectively include the court and its sessions, except in so far as the context otherwise requires.
(5) Unless otherwise directed by the Lord Chancellor, sessions of the court shall be held at least eleven times in every year, at times to be fixed by the court or a judge thereof.
(6) The court may sit in more than one division simultaneously, and the jurisdiction of the court may be exercised by any one or more of the judges of the court.
(7) Any judge of the court when acting as such shall have the same powers as a judge of the High Court has when so acting (including the power to direct or consent to the preferment of a bill of indictment before the court); and sections eight and fourteen of the Criminal Justice Act, 1948 (which relate to the powers exercisable in relation to a person convicted after a probation order or order of conditional discharge has been made in his case, and in relation to fines and forfeited recognizances), shall apply to the court as they apply to the Central Criminal Court and not as they apply to other courts of assize.
(8) Without prejudice to any powers exercisable apart from this subsection, a judge of the court may, in any case where he thinks fit, make such order postponing a trial before the court as appears necessary in order to enable the trial to take place before a judge of the High Court, and any such order may include such provision as the judge making it thinks fit as to admitting the accused person to bail, as to the enlargement of recognizances, and otherwise.
(9) A judge of the court shall, when engaged in the exercise of the court's jurisdiction under this section, be deemed to constitute a court of the High Court.
(10) Commissions under this section shall be issued in the same manner as commissions of assize, and may be revoked by Order in Council, and, if not so revoked, shall continue in force until superseded by new commissions under this section.
2 Effect of establishment of Crown Courts.
(1) The following provisions of this section shall have effect so long as commissions under the foregoing section are in force.
(2) There shall be no general commission of assize for the dispatch of criminal business for the West Derby division or for the Salford division, or for any area wholly or partly comprised in either of those divisions; but (subject to any Order in Council under this Act or under section seventy-two of the Supreme Court of Judicature (Consolidation) Act, 1925) there shall be general commissions of assize for the Northern division of Lancashire for the dispatch of criminal business at Lancaster instead of commissions for the whole county.
(3) The courts of quarter sessions for Liverpool and Manchester shall not sit; but for the purposes of the enactments relating to the committal of persons for trial at assizes or quarter sessions and to matters connected therewith the Crown Court at Liverpool shall be regarded not only as a court of assize for the West Derby division but also as a court of quarter sessions for Liverpool, and the Crown Court at Manchester not only as a court of assize for the Salford division but also as a court of quarter sessions for Manchester.
Liverpool and Manchester shall continue to be treated as boroughs having a separate court of quarter sessions, notwithstanding that the sittings of the court are suspended under this subsection.
(4) (a ) Jurors to serve at the Crown Court at Liverpool or at Manchester or at any other court of assize in Lancashire (not being a court held by virtue of any special commission of assize) shall be summoned by the sheriff or other officer charged with the return of jurors in pursuance of precepts issued by the clerk of assize; and, where it appears that civil and criminal assizes will be in progress at any place at the same time (whether or not they are to begin together), a single precept may be issued for those assizes, directing that jurors be summoned for the trial of all issues, whether civil or criminal, which may come on for trial at those assizes.
(b ) The sheriff or other officer summoning jurors to serve as aforesaid shall have regard to the convenience of the persons summoned, as to their respective places of residence, and in the case of jurors to serve at either of the Crown Courts shall have regard also to the fact that the court deals with cases which but for this Act, would be dealt with by the court of quarter sessions for Liverpool or Manchester, as the case may be.
(c ) For the purposes of the Juries Act, 1949, the Crown Court and any other court of assize at Liverpool or Manchester shall be treated as a court of assize held for the city; and, where by virtue of paragraph (a ) of this subsection a single precept is issued for civil and criminal assizes at the same place in Lancashire, section five of the Juries Act, 1949 (which provides for the reimbursement to local authorities of payments attributable to civil business at assizes), shall apply as if the business of those assizes were the business of a single court of assize.
(5) Where it appears to Her Majesty that, by reason of the small number of prisoners or otherwise, it is usually inexpedient to hold separate winter or spring assizes in a county or division adjoining the division for which the Crown Court at Liverpool or the Crown Court at Manchester acts, Her Majesty may by Order in Council direct that those assizes shall not be held in that county or division, but that at such sessions of that court as may be specified in the Order the jurisdiction of that court under section one of this Act shall extend to that county or division as if it formed part of the division for which the court acts; and the Order in Council may include any such supplementary provisions as may be included in an Order in Council under section seventy-two of the Supreme Court of Judicature (Consolidation) Act, 1925, uniting one county to another for the purpose of winter or spring assizes.
Subsections (3) to (5) of the said section seventy-two (which relate to revocation, publication and other incidental matters) shall apply to an Order in Council under this subsection as they apply to an Order in Council under that section.
(6) The West Derby division, the Salford division and the Northern division shall, in relation to offences tried in the Crown Court at Liverpool or Manchester or any court of assize in the Northern division, be deemed to be separate counties for the purposes of sections twelve and thirteen of the Criminal Law Act, 1826 (which relate to offences committed on boundaries of counties or during a journey); and, subject to the next following subsection, each of those courts and any judge thereof shall have, in relation to the division for which the court acts, the same jurisdiction and powers as if the court were a court for the whole of a county.
(7) For the purposes of section three of the Assizes Relief Act, 1889 (which enables proceedings to be taken in a court of assize for the discharge or trial of a person committed to gaol for...
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