Indictable Offences Act 1848
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1848 c. 42 |
| Year | 1848 |
(11 & 12 Vict.) C A P. XLII.
[14th August 1848]
'WHEREAS it would conduce much to the Improvement of the Administration of Criminal Justice withinEngland and Wales if the several Statutes and Parts of Statutes relating to the Duties of Her Majesty's Justices of the Peace therein with respect to Persons charged with indictable Offences were consolidated, with such Additions and Alterations as may be deemed necessary, and that such Duties should be clearly defined by positive Enactment:' Be it therefore declared and 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 in all Cases where a Charge or Complaint (A.) shall be made before any One or more of Her Majesty's Justices of the Peace for any County, Riding, Division, Liberty, City, Borough, or Place withinEngland or Wales , that any Person has committed or is suspected to have committed any Treason, Felony, or indictable Misdemeanor, or other indictable Offence whatsoever, within the Limits of the Jurisdiction of such Justice or Justices of the Peace, or that any Person guilty or suspected to be guilty of having committed any such Crime or Offence elsewhere out of the Jurisdiction of such Justice or Justices is residing or being or is suspected to reside or be within the Limits of the Jurisdiction of such Justice or Justices, then and in every such Case, if the Person so charged or complained against shall not then be in Custody, it shall be lawful for such Justice or Justices of the Peace to issue his or their Warrant (B.) to apprehend such Person, and to cause him to be brought before such Justice or Justices, or any other Justice or Justices for the same County, Riding, Division, Liberty, City, Borough, or Place, to answer to such Chargeor Complaint, and to be further dealt with according to Law: Provided always, that in all Cases it shall be lawful for such Justice or Justices to whom such Charge or Complaint shall be preferred, if he or they shall so think fit, instead of issuing in the first instance his or their Warrant to apprehend the Person so charged or complained against, to issue his or their Summons (C.) directed to such Person, requiring him to appear before the said Justice or Justices at a Time and Place to be therein mentioned, or before such other Justice or Justices of the same County, Riding, Division, Liberty, City, Borough, or Place as may then be there, and if after being served with such Summons in manner herein-after mentioned he shall fail to appear at such Time and Place, in obedience to such Summons, then and in every such Case the said Justice or Justices, or any other Justice or Justices of the Peace for the same County, Riding, Division, Liberty, City, Borough, or Place, may issue his or their Warrant (D.) to apprehend such Person so charged or complained against, and cause such Person to be brought before him or them, or before some other Justice or Justices of the Peace for the same County, Riding, Division, Liberty, City, Borough, or Place, to answer to the said Charge or Complaint, and to be further dealt with according to Law: Provided nevertheless, that nothing herein contained shall prevent any Justice or Justices of the Peace from issuing the Warrant herein-before first mentioned at any Time before or after the Time mentioned in such Summons for the Appearance of the said accused Party.
II Warrant to apprehend for Offences committed on the High Seas or abroad.
II. And be it enacted, That in all Cases of indictable Crimes or Offences of any Kind or Nature whatsoever committed on the High Seas, or in any Creek, Harbour, Haven, or other Place in which the Admiralty ofEngland have or claim to have Jurisdiction, and in all Cases of Crimes or Offences committed on Land beyond the Seas, for which an Indictment may legally be preferred in any Place within England or Wales , it shall be lawful for any One or more of Her Majesty's Justices of the Peace for any County, Riding, Division, Liberty, City, Borough, or Place within England or Wales in which any Person charged with having committed or with being suspected to have committed any such Crime or Offence shall reside or be, or shall be supposed or suspected to reside or be, to issue his or their Warrant (E.) to apprehend the Person so charged, and to cause him to be brought before him or them, or some other Justice or Justices of the Peace for the same County, Riding, Division, Liberty, City, Borough, or Place, to answer to the said Charges, and to be further dealt with according to Law.
III Warrant to apprehend a Party against whom an Indictment is found.
III. And be it enacted, That where any Indictment shall be found by the Grand Jury in any Court of Oyer and Terminer or General Gaol Delivery, or in any Court of General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace, against any Person who shall then be at large, and whether such Person shall have been bound by any Recognizance to appear to answer to the same or not, the Person who shall act as Clerk of the Indictments at such Court of Oyer and Terminer or Gaol Delivery, or as Clerk of the Peace at such Sessions, at which the said Indictment shall be found, shall at any Time afterwards, after the End of the Sessions of Oyer and Terminer or Gaol Delivery or Sessions of the Peace at which such Indictment shall have been found, upon Application of the Prosecutor, or of any Person on his Behalf, and on Payment of a Fee of One Shilling, if such Person shall not have already appeared and pleaded to such Indictment, grant unto such Prosecutor or Person a Certificate (F.) of such Indictment having been found; and upon Production of such Certificate to any Justice or Justices of the Peace for any County, Riding, Division, Liberty, City, Borough, or Place in which the Offence shall in such Indictment be alleged to have been committed, or in which the Person indicted in and by such Indictment shall reside or be, or be supposed or suspected to reside or be, it shall be lawful for such Justice or Justices, and he and they are hereby required, to issue his or their Warrant (G.) to apprehend such Person so indicted, and to cause him to be brought before such Justice or Justices, or any other Justice or Justices for the same County, Riding, Division, Liberty, City, Borough, or Place, to be dealt with according to Law, and afterwards, if such Person be thereupon apprehended and brought before any such Justice or Justices, such Justice or Justices, upon its being proved upon Oath or Affirmation before him or them that the Person so apprehended is the same Person who is charged and named in such Indictment, shall, without further Inquiry or Examination, commit (H.) him for Trial, or admit him to Bail, in manner herein-after mentioned; or if such Person so indicted shall be confined in any Gaol or Prison for any other Offencethan that charged in the said Indictment, at the Time of such Application, and Production of the said Certificate to such Justice or Justices as aforesaid, it shall be lawful for such Justice or Justices, and he and they are hereby required, upon it being proved before him or them upon Oath or Affirmation that the Person so indicted and the Person so confined in Prison are one and the same Person, to issue his or their Warrant (I.) directed to the Gaoler or Keeper of the Gaol or Prison in which the Person so indicted shall then be confined as aforesaid, commanding him to detain such Person in his Custody until by Her Majesty's Writ of Habeas Corpus he shall be removed therefrom, for the Purpose of being tried upon the said Indictment, or until he shall otherwise be removed or discharged out of his Custody by due Course of Law.
IV Justices may issue Warrants on Sundays.
IV. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for any Justice or Justices of the Peace to grant or issue any Warrant as aforesaid or any Search Warrant on aSunday as well as on any other Day.
V Justices for adjoining Counties, &c. may act as such for one County, &c. while residing in another.
V. And be it enacted, That in Cases where a Justice of the Peace for any County, Riding, Division, Liberty, City, Borough, or Place shall be also Justice of the Peace for a County, Riding, Division, Liberty, City, Borough, or Place next adjoining thereto or surrounded thereby, it shall and may be lawful for such Justice of the Peace to act as such Justice for the one County, Riding, Division, Liberty, City, Borough, or other Place whilst he is residing or happens to be in the other such County, Riding, Division, Liberty, City, Borough, or other Place, in all Matters and Things herein-before or hereafter in this Act mentioned; and that all such Acts of such Justice, and the Acts of any Constableor other Officer in obedience thereto, shall be as valid, good, and effectual in the Law to all Intents and Purposes as if such Justice at the Time he shall so act as aforesaid were in the County, Riding, Division, Liberty, City, Borough, or other Place for which he shall so act; and all Constables and other Officers for the County, Riding, Division, Liberty, City, Borough, or Place for which such Justice shall so act...
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