Senior Courts Act 1981

43 Power of High Court to vary sentence on [F1 application for quashing order]. E+W

(1) Where a person who has been sentenced for an offence—

(a) by a magistrates’ court; or

(b) by the Crown Court after being convicted of the offence by a magistrates’ court and committed to the Crown Court for sentence; or

(c) by the Crown Court on appeal against conviction or sentence,

applies to the High Court in accordance with section 31 for an [F2 a quashing order] to remove the proceedings of the magistrates’ court or the Crown Court into the High Court, then, if the High Court determines that the magistrates’ court or the Crown Court had no power to pass the sentence, the High Court may, instead of quashing the conviction, amend it by substituting for the sentence passed any sentence which the magistrates’ court or, in a case within paragraph (b), the Crown Court had power to impose.

(2) Any sentence passed by the High Court by virtue of this section in substitution for the sentence passed in the proceedings of the magistrates’ court or the Crown Court shall, unless the High Court otherwise directs, begin to run from the time when it would have begun to run if passed in those proceedings; but in computing the term of the sentence, any time during which the offender was released on bail in pursuance of section 37(1)(d) of the M1 Criminal Justice Act 1948 shall be disregarded.

(3) Subsections (1) and (2) shall, with the necessary modifications, apply in relation to any order of a magistrates’ court or the Crown Court which is made on, but does not form part of, the conviction of an offender as they apply in relation to a conviction and sentence.

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in s. 43 sidenote substituted (1.5.2004) by The Civil Procedure (Modification of Supreme Court Act 1981) Order 2004 (S.I. 2004/1033), art. 5(b)

F2 Words in s. 43(1) substituted (1.5.2004) by The Civil Procedure (Modification of Supreme Court Act 1981) Order 2004 (S.I. 2004/1033), art. 5(a)

Marginal Citations

M1 1948 c. 58.