Part VIII Evidence in Criminal Proceedings—General

Part VIII—supplementary

82 Part VIII—interpretation.

(1)

In this Part of this Act—

“confession”, includes any statement wholly or partly adverse to the person who made it, whether made to a person in authority or not and whether made in words or otherwise;

“court-martial” means a court-martial constituted under the M1Army Act 1955, the M2Air Force Act 1955 or the M3Naval Discipline Act 1957 or a disciplinary court constituted under F1section 52G of the said Act of 1957;

“proceedings” means criminal proceedings, including—

(a)

proceedings in the United Kingdom or elsewhere before a court-martial constituted under the Army Act 1955 F2, the Air Force Act 1955 or the Naval Discipline Act 1957;

(b)

proceedings in the United Kingdom or elsewhere before the Courts-Martial Appeal Court—

(i)

on an appeal from a court-martial so constituted F3. . .; or

(ii)

on a reference under section 34 of the M4Courts-Martial (Appeals) Act 1968; and

(b)

proceedings before a Standing Civilian Court; and

“Service court” means a court-martial or a Standing Civilian Court.

(2)

In this Part of this Act references to conviction before a Service court are F4references to a finding of guilty which is, or falls to be treated as, the finding of the court; and“convicted” shall be construed accordingly.

(3)

Nothing in this Part of this Act shall prejudice any power of a court to exclude evidence (whether by preventing questions from being put or otherwise) at its discretion.