Crown Cases Act 1848
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1848 c. 78 |
| Year | 1848 |
(11 & 12 Vict.) C A P. LXXVIII.
[31st August 1848]
'WHEREAS it is expedient to provide a better Mode than that now in use of deciding any difficult Question of Law which may arise in Criminal Trials in any Court of Oyer and Terminer and Gaol Delivery, and to make further Amendments in the Administration of the Criminal Law:' 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, That when any Person shall have been convicted of any Treason, Felony, or Misdemeanorbefore any Court of Oyer and Terminer or Gaol Delivery, or Court of Quarter Sessions, the Judge or Commissioner, or Justices of the Peace, before whom the Case shall have been tried, may, in his or their Discretion, reserve any Question of Law which shall have arisen on the Trial for the Consideration of the Justices of either Bench and Barons of the Exchequer, and thereupon shall have Authority to respite Execution of the Judgment on such Conviction, or postpone the Judgment until such Question shall have been considered and decided, as he or they may think fit; and in either Case the Court in its Discretion shall commit the Person convicted to Prison, or shall take a Recognizance of Bail, with One or Two sufficient Sureties, and in such Sum as the Court shall think fit, conditioned to appear at such Time or Times as the Court shall direct, and receive Judgment, or to render himself in Execution, as the Case may be.
II Questions reserved to be certified to the Judges.
II. And be it enacted, That the Judge or Commissioner or Court of Quarter Sessions shall thereupon state, in a Case signed in the Manner now usual, the Question or Questions of Law which shall have been so reserved, with the special Circumstances upon which the same shall have arisen; and such Case shall be transmitted to the said Justices and Barons; and the said Justices and Barons shall thereupon have full Power and Authority to hear and finally determine the said Question or Questions, and thereupon to reverse, affirm, or amend any Judgment which shall have been given on the Indictment or Inquisition on the Trial whereof such Question or Questions have arisen, or to avoid such Judgment, and to order an Entry to be made on the Record, that in the Judgment of the said Justices and Barons the Party convicted ought not to have been convicted, or to arrest the Judgment, or order Judgment to be given thereon at some other Session of Oyer and...
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