Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act (Northern Ireland) 1968

In any criminal proceedings to which this section applies, a written statement by any person shall, if such of the conditions mentioned in subsection (2) as are applicable are satisfied, be admissible as evidence to the like extent as oral evidence to the like effect by that person.

The conditions mentioned in subsection (2)( c) and ( d) shall not apply if the parties agree before or during the hearing that the statement shall be tendered in evidence under this section.

So much of any statement as is admitted in evidence under this section shall, unless the court otherwise directs, be read aloud at the hearing and, where the court so directs, an account shall be given orally of so much of any statement as is not read aloud.

Any document or object referred to as an exhibit and identified in a written statement tendered in evidence under this section shall be treated as if it had been produced as an exhibit and identified in court, or identified, as the case may be, by the maker of the statement.

This section shall apply to every criminal proceeding other than a preliminary F14inquiry into an indictable offence conducted under theF5 Magistrates' Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1981.

Without prejudice to subsection (8) of section 1, a document required by that section to be served on any person may, in relation to criminal proceedings in a magistrates' court, be served by ordinary post in an envelope in the manner described in paragraph (c) or (d) of that subsection.

A written statement contained in a document served in accordance with subsection (1) shall not be admissable in evidence under section 1 unless the person upon whom the document is served provides an acknowledgement in such form and manner as may be prescribed by magistrates' courts rules.

Subject to the provisions of this section, any fact of which oral evidence may be given in any criminal proceedings may be admitted for the purpose of those proceedings by or on behalf of the prosecutor or defendant, and the admission by any party of any such fact under this section shall, as against that party, be conclusive evidence in those proceedings of the fact admitted.

An admission under this section may be made before or at the proceedings and, if made otherwise than in court, shall be in writing signed by the person making it, if that person is an individual, or by a director or manager or the secretary or clerk, or some other similar officer, if the admission is made by a body corporate.

An admission under this section for the purpose of proceedings relating to any matter shall be treated as an admission for the purpose of any subsequent criminal proceedings relating to that matter (including any appeal or retrial).

Notwithstanding that any fact may have been admitted for the purposes of any criminal proceedings, oral evidence of that fact may be given by either party to the proceedings.

An admission under this section may be withdrawn not later than one clear day before the trial in the proceedings for the purpose of which it was made, and no such admission may be withdrawn at any later time unless the court shall otherwise allow by reason of circumstances which could not reasonably have been foreseen; and, if such an admission is withdrawn, the prosecutor may, with the leave of the court, comment on the withdrawal.

In using the shortened form of arraignment the proper officer shall make public the nature of the charges on which the accused is to be tried by reading aloud and in full at least one count in respect of each category of offence charged. Each of the other counts relating to the same category of offence may then be put to the accused by referring to the number of the count and adding such other particulars as, without a full reading, may enable the accused to understand the charge and follow it in the copy of the indictment in his possession.

A plea in answer to any such form of arraignment shall be a good and sufficient plea notwithstanding any existing enactment or rule of law or practice; but the presiding Judge may in his discretion, as respects any arraignment in the shortened form, disallow the same and any plea made thereto and direct that the accused be rearraigned on the count or counts in question in the ordinary form.

Where the shortened form of arraignment provided for by this section is used and a plea thereto has been entered, the conditions stated in paragraphs ( a), ( b) and ( c) of subsection (1) shall thereafter be deemed to have been duly satisfied.

Nothing in this section shall affect the operation of any rule of law or practice requiring the substance of each count in an indictment to be stated to the jury by whom the prisoner is to be tried upon that indictment.

In this section the expression “proper officer” means the [F7 chief clerk] or any other officer acting for the court or his deputy.

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No person shall, under the law of Northern Ireland, be liable in tort for any conduct on account of its being maintenance or champerty as known to the common law, except in the case of a cause of action accruing before this section has effect.

The abolition of criminal and civil liability under the law of Northern Ireland for maintenance and champerty shall not affect any rule of that law as to the cases in which a contract is to be treated as contrary to public policy or otherwise illegal.

This Act may be cited as the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act (Northern Ireland) 1968.

Commencement