Summary Jurisdiction (Scotland) Act 1881
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1881 c. 33 |
Summary Jurisdiction (Scotland) Act, 1881
(44 & 45 Vict.) CHAPTER 33.
An Act to amend the Summary Procedure Act, 1864.
[11th August 1881]
Whereas , by an Act passed in the ninth year of King George the Fourth, chapter twenty-nine, intituled An Act to authorise additional Circuit Courts of Justiciary to be held and to facilitate criminal trials in Scotland, provision was made for the summary prosecution of offences before sheriffs of counties in certain cases:
And whereas by an Act passed in the Parliament held in the seventh year of King William the Fourth and the first year of Her present Majesty, chapter forty-one, intituled ‘An Act for the more effectual recovery of small debts in the sheriff courts and for regulating the establishment of circuit courts for the trial of small debt causes by the sheriffs in Scotland,’ herein-after called the Small Debt Act, 1837, provision was made for the recovery of statutory penalties by way of action in the sheriff court, and a scale of fees was fixed for such prosecutions:
And whereas by the Summary Procedure Act, 1864, further provision was made for the trial of offences punishable on summary conviction, and for the summary recovery of penalties:
And whereas by the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879, additional powers were conferred upon courts of summary jurisdiction in England to mitigate and modify punishments in summary proceedings:
And whereas it is expedient to amend the Summary Procedure Act, 1864, to extend certain of the provisions of the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879, to Scotland, and also to regulate the costs and expenses of summary procedure in Scotland:
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:
1 Short title.
1. This Act may be cited as theSummary Jurisdiction (Scotland) Act, 1881, and shall be construed as one with the Summary Procedure Act, 1864, so far as consistent with the tenour of these Acts respectively, and these Acts may be cited together as the Summary Jurisdiction (Scotland) Acts, 1864 and 1881, and shall apply to Scotland only.
2 Commencement of Act.
2. This Act shall commence on the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and eighty-two.
3 Application.
3. The provisions of the Summary Jurisdiction (Scotland) Acts, 1864 and 1881, herein-after called the Summary Jurisdiction Acts, shall apply to all summary proceedings as enumerated and described in the third section of the Summary Procedure Act, 1864, and to all proceedings of the like nature which by any future Act are directed or authorised to be taken summarily, or under the provisions of the Summary Jurisdiction, Acts, and the thirty-second section of the Summary Procedure Act, 1864, is hereby repealed: And it shall not be necessary in any case to keep a record of the evidence, except so far as may be required by the Act conferring jurisdiction in the matter of the prosecution, or by the sixth section of the Summary Prosecutions Appeals (Scotland) Act, 1875. Whereas doubts have arisen whether the third section of the Summary Procedure (Scotland) Act, 1864, includes and applies to prosecutions under the twenty-third and twenty-fourth sections of the Salmon Fisheries (Scotland) Act, 1868, be it enacted, that the provisions of the Summary Jurisdiction Acts shall apply to Such prosecutions, and in all similar cases when in addition to a penalty a forfeiture is provided by statute. The provisions of the Summary Jurisdiction Acts shall also apply to prosecutions under the Tweed Fisheries Acts: Provided always, that it shall be in the option of the prosecutor to proceed either under the forms of the Tweed Fisheries Acts, or under the forms of the Summary Jurisdiction Acts: Provided also, that where there is a general or local Police Act in force, it shall be optional in police prosecutions either to use. the forms prescribed by such Act, or the forms provided by the Summary Jurisdiction Acts.
4 Regulation of of expenses.
4. The costs and expenses of all complaints and proceedings instituted under the Summary Jurisdiction Acts shall be regulated by the table of fees contained in the. Schedule A. to this Act annexed, and no other or higher fees shall be allowed on taxation, and where expenses shall be awarded against a respondent the decree shall be subject to the following limitations:—
The directions contained in the schedule shall be deemed to be part of this enactment.
5 Amount of expenses to be stated in conviction or decree.
5. In all proceedings under the Summary Jurisdiction Acts in every conviction, order, decree of absolvitor, decree dismissing the complaint, or other decree disposing of the complaint, and not at any subsequent time, the Court may, subject to the foregoing provisions, when a finding of expenses is competent, find such sum to be due in name of expenses, if any, as it considers reasonable. Expenses shall in all cases be recovered as if they formed part of the penalty, and the same diligence shall follow in case of default in payment.
6 Power to mitigate penalties.
6. In all proceedings under the Summary Jurisdiction Acts—
Provided that nothing in this Act shall authorise the Court to reduce the amount of a fine when the Act prescribing such amount carries into effect a treaty, convention, or...
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