Grand Juries (Suspension) Act 1917
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1917 c. 4 |
| Year | 1917 |
Grand Juries (Suspension) Act, 1917.
(7 & 8 Geo. 5.) CHAPTER 4.
An Act to provide for the Suspension of Grand Juries in connection with the present War.
[28th March 1917]
Be it enacted by the King'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:
1 Suspension of grand juries.
(1) No precept for the summoning of a grand jury or grand jurors shall be issued nor shall any grand jury be summoned, and any such precept or summons in existence at the date of the commencement of this Act shall be void and of no effect, so far as it relates to grand juries or grand jurors.
(2) In any case where a person has been committed for trial, or where the consent or direction in writing of a judge of the High Court or of the Attorney-General or Solicitor-General for the presentment of an indictment against any person has been given, but in no other case, an indictment against that person may be presented in the appropriate court without having been found by a grand jury, but in other respects as heretofore; and where an indictment is so presented it shall be proceeded with in like manner as if a true bill had been found and presented in the court by a grand jury, and the statute and common law relating to such proceedings shall apply accordingly:
Provided that where an indictment is so authorised to be presented in any court it shall be lawful for that court to authorise the addition of other counts to the indictment or the presentment in the court of any further indictment against the same person, if such counts or indictment are in the opinion of that court founded on facts or evidence disclosed in any examination or deposition taken before a justice of the peace in the presence of the accused.
(3) Where a person is bound by recognizance to prosecute a person who is not committed for trial the recognizance shall require him to apply to a judge of the High Court or the Attorney-General or Solicitor-General for consent to present an indictment, and in the event of such consent not being obtained the recognizance shall be void, and where at the commencement of this Act a person has been bound by such a recognizance the recognizance shall have effect as if it contained such a requirement as aforesaid.
(4) The First Schedule to the Indictments Act, 1915 , shall apply to all indictments...
To continue reading
Request your trial