Criminal Justice Act 1987

5 Notices of transfer— procedure. E+W

(1) A notice of transfer shall specify the proposed place of trial and in selecting that place the designated authority shall have regard to the considerations to which section 7 of the M1 Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 requires a magistrates’ court committing a person for trial to have regard when selecting the place at which he is to be tried.

(2) A notice of transfer shall specify the charge or charges to which it relates and include or be accompanied by such additional matter as regulations under subsection (9) below may require.

(3) If a magistrates’ court has remanded a person to whom a notice of transfer relates in custody, it shall have power, subject to section 4 of the M2 Bail Act 1976 and regulations under section 22 of the M3 Prosecution of Offences Act 1985—

(a) to order that he shall be safely kept in custody until delivered in due course of law; or

(b) to release him on bail in accordance with the Bail Act 1976, that is to say, by directing him to appear before the Crown Court for trial;

and where his release on bail is conditional on his providing one or more surety or sureties and, in accordance with section 8(3) of the Bail Act 1976, the court fixes the amount in which the surety is to be bound with a view to his entering into his recognizance subsequently in accordance with subsections (4) and (5) or (6) of that section, the court shall in the meantime make an order such as is mentioned in paragraph (a) of this subsection.

(4) If the conditions specified in subsection (5) below are satisfied, a court may exercise the powers conferred by subsection (3) above [F1 in relation to a person charged without his] being brought before it in any case in which by virtue of section 128(3A) of the M4 Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 it would have power further to remand him on an adjournment such as is mentioned in that subsection.

(5) The conditions mentioned in subsection (4) above are—

(a) that the person [F2 in question] has given his written consent to the powers conferred by subsection (3) above being exercised without his being brought before the court; and

(b) that the court is satisfied that, when he gave his consent, he knew that the notice of transfer had been issued.

(6) Where notice of transfer is given after [F3 a person to whom it relates] has been remanded on bail to appear before [F4 a magistrates’ court] on an appointed day, the requirement that he shall so appear shall cease on the giving of the notice, unless the notice states that it is to continue.

(7) Where the requirement that a person [F5 to whom the notice of transfer relates] shall appear before [F6 a magistrates’ court] ceases by virtue of subsection (6) above, it shall be his duty to appear before the Crown Court at the place specified by the notice of transfer as the proposed place of trial or at any place substituted for it by a direction under section 76 of the M5 [F7 Senior Courts Act 1981].

[F8 (7A) If the notice states that the requirement is to continue, when a person to whom the notice relates appears before the magistrates’ court, the court shall have—

(a) the powers and duty conferred on a magistrates’ court by subsection (3) above, but subject as there provided; and

(b) power to enlarge, in the surety’s absence, a recognizance conditioned in accordance with section 128(4)(a) of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 so that the surety is bound to secure that the person charged appears also before the Crown Court.]

(8) For the purposes of the M6 Criminal Procedure (Attendance of Witnesses) Act 1965—

(a) any magistrates’ court for the petty sessions area for which the court from which a case was transferred sits shall be treated as examining magistrates; and

(b) a person [F9 indicated in the notice of transfer as a proposed witness;] shall be treated as a person who has been examined by the court.

(9) The Attorney General—

(a) shall by regulations make provision requiring the giving of a copy of a notice of transfer, together with [F10 copies of the documents containing the evidence (including oral evidence)] on which any charge to which it relates is based—

(i) to [F11 any person to whom the notice of transfer relates]; and

(ii) to the Crown Court sitting at the [F12 place specified by the notice of transfer as the] proposed place of trial; and

(b) may by regulations make such further provision in relation to notices of transfer, including provision as to the duties of a designated authority in relation to such notices, as appears to him to be appropriate.

[F13 (9A) Regulations under subsection (9)(a) above may provide that there shall be no requirement for copies of documents to accompany the copy of the notice of transfer if they are referred to, in documents sent with the notice of transfer, as having already been supplied.]

(10) The power to make regulations conferred by subsection (9) above shall be exercisable by statutory instrument subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

(11) Any such regulations may make different provision with respect to different cases or classes of case.

Textual Amendments

F1 Words substituted by Criminal Justice Act 1988 (c. 33, SIF 39:1), s. 144(3)(a), Sch. 8 para. 16

F2 Words substituted by Criminal Justice Act 1988 (c. 33, SIF 39:1), s. 144(3)(b), Sch. 8 para. 16

F3 Words substituted by Criminal Justice Act 1988 (c. 33, SIF 39:1), s. 144(3)(c)(i), Sch. 8 para. 16

F4 Words substituted by Criminal Justice Act 1988 (c. 33, SIF 39:1), s. 144(3)(c)(ii), Sch. 8 para. 16

F5 Words substituted by Criminal Justice Act 1988 (c. 33, SIF 39:1), s. 144(3)(d)(i)

F6 Words substituted by Criminal Justice Act 1988 (c. 33, SIF 39:1), s. 144(3)(d)(ii), Sch. 8 para. 16

F7 Words in Act substituted (1.10.2009) by Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (c. 4), s. 148(1), Sch. 11 para. 1(2); S.I. 2009/1604, art. 2(d)

F8 S. 5(7A) inserted by Criminal Justice Act 1988 (c. 33, SIF 39:1), s. 144(4), Sch. 8 para. 16

F9 Words substituted by Criminal Justice Act 1988 (c. 33, SIF 39:1), s. 144(3)(e), Sch. 8 para. 16

F10 Words in s. 5(9)(a) substituted (4.7.1996 with application as mentioned in s. 45(8) of the substituting Act on or after 1.4.1998) by 1996 c. 25, s. 45(2)(8)(with s. 78(1)); S.I. 1998/851, art.2.

F11 Words substituted by Criminal Justice Act 1988 (c. 33, SIF 39:1), s. 144(3)(f)(i), Sch. 8 para. 16

F12 Words inserted by Criminal Justice Act 1988 (c. 33, SIF 39:1), s. 144(3)(f)(ii), Sch. 8 para. 16

F13 S. 5(9A) inserted (4.7.1996 with application as mentioned in s. 45(8) of the inserting Act on or after 1.4.1998) by 1996 c. 25, s. 45(3)(8)(with s. 78(1)); S.I. 1998/851, art.2.

Marginal Citations

M1 1980 c. 43.

M2 1976 c. 63.

M3 1985 c. 23.

M4 1980 c. 43.

M5 1981 c. 54.

M6 1965 c. 69.