Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980

18 Desertion of trial diet. S

(1) In section 127 of the 1975 Act (procedure where trial does not take place) after subsection (1) there shall be inserted the following subsection—

“(IA) The prosecutor shall not raise a fresh libel in a case where the court has deserted the trial dietsimpliciter (and its decision in that regard has not been reversed on appeal).”.

(2) After section 338 of the said Act there shall be added the following section—

“338A Desertion of trial diet.

(1) lt shall be competent at the diet of trial, at any time before the first witness is sworn, for the court, on the application of the prosecutor, to desert the dietpro loco et tempore.

(2) If, at a diet of trial, the court refuses an application by the prosecutor to adjourn the trial or to desert the dietpro loco et tempore, and the prosecutor is unable or unwilling to proceed with the trial, the court shall desert the dietsimpliciter.

(3) Where the court has deserted a dietsimpliciter under subsection (2) above (and the court’s decision in that regard has not been reversed on appeal), it shall not be competent for the prosecutor to raise a fresh libel.”.

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 The text of ss. 6, 11, 13–22, 24, 25, 27–30, 33–38, 40, 43, 45(1), (3), 46(1)(e)(f), (2), 47–51, 53, 54, 56, 57, 79, 83(2)(3) is in the form in which it was originally enacted: it was not reproduced in Statutes in Force and does not reflect any amendments or repeals which may have been made prior to 1.2.1991.