Magistrates' Courts Rules 1981
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 1981/552 |
1981 No. 552 (L. 1)
MAGISTRATES' COURTS
PROCEDURE
The Magistrates' Courts Rules 198120thMarch 1981
8thApril 1981
6thJuly 1981
ARRANGEMENT OF RULES
GENERAL
1. Citation, operation and revocations.
2. Interpretation.
3. Saving for the Magistrates' Courts (Children and Young Persons) Rules 1970.
INFORMATION AND COMPLAINT
4. Information and complaint.
PROCEEDINGS PRELIMINARY TO TRIAL ON INDICTMENT
5. Restrictions on reports of committal proceedings.
6. Committal for trial without consideration of evidence.
7. Taking depositions of witnesses and statement of accused.
8. Order for attendance of witness at court of trial.
9. Notice to governor of prison of committal on bail.
10. Notices on committal of person subject to transfer direction.
11. Documents and exhibits to be retained and sent to court of trial.
SUMMARY TRIAL OF INFORMATION AND HEARING OF COMPLAINT
12. Information to be for one offence only.
13. Order of evidence and speeches: information.
14. Order of evidence and speeches: complaint.
15. Adjournment of trial of information.
16. Form of conviction or order.
17. Committals for sentence, etc.
18. Committal to Crown Court for order restricting discharge, etc.
19. Remittals to another magistrates' court for sentence, etc.
20. Duty of clerk receiving statutory declaration under s.14(1) of Act of 1980.
SUMMARY TRIAL OF OFFENCE TRIABLE EITHER WAY
21. Duty to recall witnesses who have given evidence before examining justices.
22. Preservation of depositions where offence triable either way is dealt with summarily.
REMAND
23. Remand on bail for more than eight days where sureties have not entered into recognizances.
24. Documents to be sent on remand for medical inquiry.
25. Transfer of remand hearings.
26. Notice of further remand in certain cases.
DEFERMENT OF SENTENCE
27. Notification of conviction before expiration of period of deferment.
CONDITIONAL DISCHARGE AND PROBATION
28. Notification of discharge, etc., of probation order or order for conditional discharge.
SUSPENDED SENTENCES
29. Entries in register in respect of suspended sentences.
30. Suspended sentence supervision orders.
HOSPITAL ORDER
31. Documents to be sent under Mental Health Act 1959.
ENDORSEMENT
32. Endorsement of driving licence.
DEPOSITION OF PERSON DANGEROUSLY ILL
33. Deposition of person dangerously ill.
APPEAL TO MAGISTRATES' COURT
34. Appeal to be by complaint.
AFFILIATION ORDERS
35. Time for hearing affiliation summons.
DOMESTIC PROCEEDINGS
36. Reasons for decisions in certain domestic proceedings to be recorded.
37. Copies of records to be supplied in connection with appeals.
38. Certification of records.
ORDERS FOR PERIODICAL PAYMENTS
39. Method of making periodical payments.
40. Duty of clerk to notify arrears of periodical payments.
41. Revocation, variation, etc., of orders for periodical payment.
42. Application for sums under affiliation order to be paid to person having custody of child.
43. Service of copy of order.
44. Remission of sums due under order.
45. Duty of clerk to notify remarriage of person entitled to payments under a maintenance order.
SATISFACTION, ENFORCEMENT AND APPLICATION OF PAYMENTS
46. Notice to defendant of fine or forfeited recognizance.
47. Registration and notification of financial penalty enforcement order.
48. To whom payments are to be made.
49. Duty of clerk to give receipt.
50. Relief of collecting officer.
51. Application for further time.
52. Notice of date of hearing of means inquiry, etc.
53. Notice to defendant before enforcing order.
54. Execution of distress warrant.
55. Payment after imprisonment imposed.
56. Order for supervision.
57. Transfer of fine order.
58. Civil debt: judgment summons.
59. Enforcement of affiliation orders, etc.
60. Enforcement where periodical payments made under more than one order.
61. Notice of adjudication on complaint for enforcement of affiliation order, etc.
62. Particulars relating to payment of lump sum under affiliation order, etc., to be entered in register.
63. Notice of date of reception in custody and discharge.
64. Direction that money found on defaulter shall not be applied in satisfaction of debt.
65. Particulars of fine enforcement to be entered in register.
REGISTER
66. Register of convictions, etc.
EVIDENCE—GENERAL
67. Proof of service, handwriting, etc.
68. Proof of proceedings.
69. Proof that affiliation, maintenance orders, etc., have not been revoked, etc.
EVIDENCE—CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS
70. Written statements in committal proceedings or summary trial.
71. Proof by formal admission.
72. Proof of previous convictions.
73. Clerk to have copies of documents sent to defendant under s. 12(1) of the Act of 1980.
APPEAL TO CROWN COURT
74. Documents to be sent to Crown Court.
75. Abandonment of appeal.
CASE STATED
76. Application to state case.
77. Consideration of draft case.
78. Preparation and submission of final case.
79. Extension of time limits.
80. Service of documents.
81. Content of case.
RECOGNIZANCES AND BAIL
82. Recognizance to keep the peace, etc., taken by one court and discharged by another.
83. Application to vary order for sureties or dispense with them.
84. Notice of enlargement of recognizances.
85. Directions as to security, etc.
86. Requirements to be complied with before release.
87. Notice to governor of prison, etc., where release from custody is ordered.
88. Release when recognizances have been taken or requirements complied with.
89. Procedure under s. 13 of Courts Act 1971.
90. Bail records to be entered in register.
91. Notice of change of time for appearance.
92. Notification of bail decision after arrest while on bail.
93. Variation of arrangements for bail on committal to Crown Court.
WARRANT
94. Committal to custody to be by warrant.
95. Warrant to be signed.
96. Warrant of arrest.
97. Warrant of commitment.
SUMMONS
98. Form of summons.
99. Service of summons, etc.
FORM IN WHICH OFFENCE MAY BE STATED IN DOCUMENTS
100. Statement of offence.
MISCELLANEOUS
101. Application for, and notice to be given of, order under s.95 of, or paragraph 7 of Schedule 10 to, Road Traffic Act 1972.
102. Application for revocation of order under s.14 of Food and Drugs Act 1955.
103. Application for substitution of conditional discharge for probation.
104. Application for review of compensation order.
105. Application for alteration of maintenance agreement under s.35 of Matrimonial Causes Act 1973.
106. Proceedings against person outside the United Kingdom on application for variation, etc. of certain maintenance and custody orders.
107. Application for summons to witness or warrant for his arrest.
108. Notice of order under s.104 ot Road Traffic Act 1972.
109. Signature of forms prescribed by rules made under the Act of 1980.
Schedule—Rules revoked.
The Lord Chancellor, in exercise of the power conferred on him by section 144 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980(a), as extended by section 145 of that Act, after consultation with the Rule Committee appointed under the said section 144, hereby makes the following Rules:—
GENERAL
Citation, operation and revocations
1.—(1) These Rules may be cited as the Magistrates' Courts Rules 1981 and shall come into operation on 6th July 1981.
(2) The Rules mentioned in the Schedule to these Rules are hereby revoked; but where proceedings were commenced before 6th July 1981 and the old enactments within the meaning of paragraphs 1 and 2(2) of Schedule 8 to the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 continue to apply by virtue of paragraph 2(1) of the said Schedule 8, the provisions of the Rules so mentioned continue to apply and nothing in these Rules affects those provisions.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In these Rules—
"the Act of 1978" means the Domestic Proceedings and Magistrates' Courts Act 1978(b);
"the Act of 1980" means the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980;
"child" means a person who has not attained the age of 18;
"contribution order" has the meaning assigned to it by section 87 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933(c);
"judgment summons" has the meaning assigned to it by rule 58.
(2) In these Rules "legal aid order" and "statement of means" have the meanings assigned to them by regulation 31(1) of the Legal Aid in Criminal Proceedings (General) Regulations 1968(d).
(3) In these Rules a reference to the person with whom a child has his home shall be construed in accordance with Part IV of the Children Act 1975(e), except that, in the case of any child in the care of a local authority, the local authority shall be treated for the purposes of these Rules as the person with whom the child has his home.
(4) In these Rules a reference to "the authorised persons for the police area" is a reference to the persons employed by a local authority in that area or by the chief officer of police or the police authority for that area who are authorised by the chief officer of police to execute warrants.
(5) Any requirement in these Rules that a document shall be in the prescribed form shall be construed as a requirement that the document shall be in the form prescribed in that behalf by rules made under section 144 of the Act of 1980, or a form to like effect.
(6) In these Rules any reference to a rule shall be construed as a reference to a rule contained in these Rules; and any reference in a rule to a paragraph shall be construed as a reference to a paragraph of that rule.
(a) 1980 c. 43.
(b) 1978 c. 22.
(c) 1933 c. 12; section 87 was amended by the Children and Young Persons Act 1969 (c. 54), section 72(3) and Schedule 5, paragraph 9 and the Domestic Proceedings and Magistrates' Courts Act 1978 (c. 22), section 89(2)(a) and Schedule 2, paragraph 3.
(d) S.I. 1968/1231, to which there are amendments not relevant to these Rules.
(e) 1975 c. 72.
Saving for the Magistrates' Courts (Children and Young Persons) Rules 1970
3. The provisions of these Rules shall have effect subject to the provisions of the Magistrates' Courts (Children and Young Persons) Rules 1970(a).
INFORMATION AND COMPLAINT
...
To continue reading
Request your trial