Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1973
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Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1973
An Act to make provision with respect to the following matters in Northern Ireland, that is to say, proceedings for and the punishment of certain offences, the detention of terrorists, the preservation of the peace, the maintenance of order and the detection of crime and to proscribe and make other provision in connection with certain organisations there, and for connected purposes.[25 th July 1973]Be it enactedby 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 ITrial and Punishment of Certain Offences1 Punishment for murder(1) No person shall suffer death for murder and a person convicted of murder shall, subject to section 73(1) of the Children and Young Persons Act (Northern Ireland) 1968 (detention of young persons during pleasure) , be sentenced to imprisonment for life.(2) On sentencing any person convicted of murder to imprisonment for life the court may at the same time declare the period which they recommend to the Minister of Home Affairs for Northern Ireland as the minimum period which in their view should elapse before the Minister orders the release of that person on licence under section 23 of the Prison Act (Northern Ireland) 1953.(3) The Minister of Home Affairs for Northern Ireland shall not release or discharge on licence a person convicted of murder and serving a sentence of imprisonment for life or detained under the said section 73(1) , except after consultation with the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland together with the trial judge, if available.(4) For the purpose of any proceedings on or subsequent to a person's trial on a charge of capital murder, that charge and any plea or finding of guilty of capital murder shall be treated as being or having been a charge, or a plea or finding of guilty, of murder only; and if at the commencement of this Act a person is under a sentence of death for capital murder, the sentence shall have effect as a sentence of imprisonment for life.(5) In this section " capital murder " means a murder which immediately before the commencement of this Act is a capital murder within the meaning of section 10 of the Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1966.2 Mode of trial on indictment of scheduled offences(1) A trial on indictment of a scheduled offence shall be conducted by the court without a jury.(2) The court trying a scheduled offence on indictment under this section shall have all the powers, authorities and jurisdiction which the court would have had if they had been sitting with a jury, including power to determine any question and to make any finding which would, apart from this section, be required to be determined or made by a jury, and references in any enactment to a jury or the verdict or finding of a jury shall be construed accordingly in relation to a trial under this section.(3) Where an indictment contains a count alleging a scheduled offence and another count alleging an offence which at the time the indictment is presented is not a scheduled offence, the other count shall be disregarded.(4) Without prejudice to subsection (2) above, where the court trying a scheduled offence on indictment are not satisfied that the accused is guilty of that offence, but are satisfied that he ...See the full content of this document
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