1SWhere a court imposes a fine on a person convicted on indictment such person may apply to that court for an order for payment of the fine by instalments, and where, either at the time said fine was imposed or at any subsequent time, such an order has been made, may at any time thereafter, before imprisonment has followed on the sentence, apply to that court to vary the order.
2SAn application, other than one made at the time the fine was imposed, shall be made in the case of a fine imposed in the High Court to the Clerk of Justiciary, and in the sheriff court to the sheriff clerk of the court by which the fine was imposed; and such application may be accompanied by a statement in writing setting forth the reasons therefor and any proposals the applicant may have for the payment of the fine by instalments or for variation of the order for payment of the fine by instalments, as the case may be.
3SWhere an application has been made as aforesaid, the Clerk of Justiciary or sheriff clerk, as the case may be, shall lay it before any judge or the sheriff of the court which imposed the fine, either in court or in chambers; and the said judge or sheriff may dispose of the application without requiring the attendance of the accused.
4SThe determination of any such application shall be entered in the minutes of proceedings of the trial by the clerk of court; and where an application is made to a sheriff court which is not the court having custody of the record copy indictment and such minutes, the sheriff clerk shall obtain the same from the court having custody thereof, and shall, after the application has been disposed of, return the record copy indictment and minutes to that court.