Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1978

1 Preliminary enquiry into scheduled offences

(1) Where in any proceedings before a magistrates' court for a scheduled offence (not being an extra-territorial offence as defined in section 1(3) of the [1975 c. 29.] Criminal Jurisdiction Act 1975) the prosecutor requests the court to conduct a preliminary enquiry into the offence under the [1968 c. 32 (N.I.).] Criminal Procedure (Committal for Trial) Act (Northern Ireland) 1968, the court shall, notwithstanding anything in section 1 of that Act of 1968, conduct a preliminary enquiry into the offence unless the court is of opinion that in the interests of justice a preliminary investigation should be conducted into the offence under Part VI of the [1964 c. 21 (N.I.).] Magistrates' Courts Act (Northern Ireland) 1964.

(2) Where in any proceedings a person charged with a scheduled offence is also charged with another offence which is not a scheduled offence, that other offence shall be treated as a scheduled offence for the purposes of subsection (1) above.