Criminal Justice Act 1925
1925 c.86
An Act to amend the law with respect to the administration of criminal justice in England, and otherwise to amend the criminal law.
Part I
1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F1
Part II Jurisdiction and Procedure
Indictable Offences generally
11C11†Venue in indictable offences.
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3
Where a person is charged with an offence F44against the M2Forgery Act 1913 or with an offence indictable at common law orunder any Act for the time being in force, consisting in the forging or altering of any matter whatsoever, or in offering, uttering, disposing of or putting off any matter whatsoever, knowing the same to be forged or altered, and the offence relates to documents made for the purpose of any Act relating to the suppression of the slave trade, the offence shall for the purposes of jurisdiction and trial be treated as an offence against the M3Slave Trade Act 1873.
4
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13C12†Binding over of witnesses conditionally and reading of depositions at trial.
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C133
Where any person has been committed for trial for any offence, the deposition of any person taken before the examining justices may, if the conditions hereinafter set out are satisfied, without further proof be read as evidence on the trial of that person, whether for that offence or for any other offence arising out of the same transaction, or set of circumstances, as that offence.
The conditions hereinbefore referred to are the following:—
a
The deposition must be the deposition either of a witness F46in respect of whom a conditional witness order, or an order treated as a conditional witness order, has been made under section 1 of the M4Criminal Procedure (Attendance of Witnesses) Act 1965, or of a witness who is proved at the trial by the oath of a credible witness to be dead or insane, or so ill as not to be able to travel, or to be kept out of the way by means of the procurement of the accused or on his behalf:
b
It must be proved at the trial, either by a certificate purporting to be signed by the justice before whom the deposition purports to have been taken or by the clerk to the examining justices, or by the oath of a credible witness, that the deposition was taken in the presence of the accused and that the accused or his counsel or solicitor had full opportunity of cross–examining the witness:
C14c
The deposition must purport to be signed by the justice before whom it purports to have been taken:
Provided that the provisions of this subsection shall not have effect in any case in which it is proved—
i
That the deposition, or, where the proof required by paragraph (b) of this subsection is given by means of a certificate, that the certificate, was not in fact signed by the justice by whom it purports to have been signed or;
ii
Where the deposition is the deposition of a witness F46in respect of whom such an order as aforesaid has been made that the witness has been duly notified that he is required to attend the trial.
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17. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F6
18. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F7
19. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F8
20. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F9
21. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F10
22. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F11
23. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F12
Summary Jurisdiction
24. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F13
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26. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F15
28 Summary proceedings for offence under s. 3, and amendments of ss. 3 and 4, of Perjury Act, 1911.
C11
Section three of the Perjury Act, 1911 (which relates to false statements as to marriages) shall have effect as though at the end of subsection (1) thereof there were inserted the words “and on summary conviction thereof shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds”.
C12
A person convicted summarily of an offence under section four of thePerjury Act, 1911 (which relates to false statements as to births or deaths), shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds.
3
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29. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F17
30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F18
31. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F19
Miscellaneous
32. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F20
C3C4C5C6C733 Procedure on charge of offence against corporation. C2
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F22On arraignment of a corporation, the corporation may, enter in writing by its representative a plea of guilty or not guilty, and if either the corporation does not appear by a representative or, though it does so appear, fails to enter as aforesaid any plea, the court shall order a plea of not guilty to be entered and the trial shall proceed as though the corporation had duly entered a plea of not guilty.
4
Provision may be made by rules under the M1Indictments Act 1915 with respect to the service on any corporation charged with an indictable offence of any documents requiring to be served in connection with the proceedings, except in so far as such provision may be made by rules F23under section 144 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980.
5
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C86
In this section the expression “representative” in relation to a corporation means a person duly appointed by the corporation to represent it for the purpose of doing any act or thing which the representative of a corporation is by this section authorized to do, but a person so appointed shall not, by virtue only of being so appointed, be qualified to act on behalf of the corporation before any court for any other purpose.
A representative for the purposes of this section need not be appointed under the seal of the corporation, and a statement in writing purporting to be signed by a managing director of the corporation, or by any person (by whatever name called) having, or being one of the persons having, the management of the affairs of the corporation, to the effect that the person named in the statement has been appointed as the representative of the corporation for the purposes of this section shall be admissible without further proof as prima facie evidence that that person has been so appointed.
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Part III Amendments as to Offences
35. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F25
C1036 Forgery of passport. C9
1
F26The forgery of any passport, or the making by any person of a statement which is to his knowledge untrue for the purpose of procuring a passport, whether for himself or any other person, shall be a misdemeanour punishable with imprisonment not exceeding two years or a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds or both such imprisonment and fine.
2
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37 Unlawful possession of pension documents.
1
If any person receives, detains or has in his possession any document to which this section applies as a pledge or a security for a debt or with a view to obtaining payment from the person entitled thereto of a debt due either to himself or to any other person, he shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding F28level 3 on the standard scale, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both such fine and imprisonment.
2
This section applies to certificates or official documents evidencing or issued in connection with the right of persons to pensions or allowances payable out of any grant which may be made out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom in pursuance of any Act for civil non–effective services.
38. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F29
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40. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F31
41 Prohibition on taking photographs, &c., in court.
1
No person shall—
a
take or attempt to take in any court any photograph, or with a view to publication make or attempt to make in any court any portrait or sketch, of any person, being a judge of the court or a juror or a witness in or a party to any proceedings before the court, whether civil or criminal; or
b
publish any photograph, portrait or sketch taken or made in contravention of the foregoing provisions of this section or any reproduction thereof;
and if any person acts in contravention of this section he shall, on summary conviction, be liable in respect of each offence to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.
2
For the purposes of this section—
a
the expression “court” means any court of justice, including the court of a coroner:
b
the expression “Judge” includes . . . F32, registrar, magistrate, justice and coroner:
c
a photograph, portrait or sketch shall be deemed to be a photograph, portrait or sketch taken or made in court if it is taken or made in the court–room or in the building or in the precincts of the building in which the court is held, or if it is a photograph, portrait or sketch taken or made of the person while he is entering or leaving the court–room or any such building or precincts as aforesaid.
42. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F33
43. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F34
Part IV Miscellaneous and General
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46. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F36
47 Abolition of presumption of coercion of married woman by husband.
Any presumption of law that an offence committed by a wife in the presence of her husband is committed under the coercion of the husband is hereby abolished, but on a charge against a wife for any offence other than treason or murder it shall be a good defence to prove that the offence was committed in the presence of, and under the coercion of, the husband.
48. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F37
49 Short title, interpretation, extent, repeal and commencement.
1
This Act may be cited as the Criminal Justice Act 1925.
2
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—
The expression “examining justices” means the justices before whom a charge is made against any person for an indictable offence, and references to examining justices include a reference to a single examining justice:
. . . F38
3
This Act shall not extend to Scotland or Northern Ireland, and references therein to warrants issued shall not be construed as including warrants issued elsewhere than in England or Wales.
4
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F40F40SCHEDULE 1
Sch. 1 repealed by Criminal Law Act 1967 (c. 58), Sch. 3 Pt. II
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F41F41SCHEDULE 2
Sch. 2 repealed by Magistrates' Courts Act 1952 (c. 55), s. 132, Sch. 6
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F42F42SCHEDULE 3
Sch. 3 repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1950 (c. 6), Sch. 1
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Act partly in force at 1.1.1926 and wholly in force at 1.7.1926 by s. 49(5) (now repealed)