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.

Annotations:
Commencement Information
I1

Act partly in force at 1.1.1926 and wholly in force at 1.7.1926 by s. 49(5) (now repealed)

Amendments (Textual)
F48

Act repealed as it extends to the Isle of Man (22.7.2004) by Statute Law (Repeals) Act 2004 (c. 14), Sch. 1 Pt. 17 Group 11(5)

Part I

1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F1

Part II Jurisdiction and Procedure

Indictable Offences generally

11

1

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F2

F33

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F2

12. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F4

13

1

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F5

F6C13

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F7

5

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F8

14. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F9

15. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F10

16. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F11

17. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F12

18. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F13

19. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F14

20. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F15

21. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F16

22. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F17

23. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F18

Summary Jurisdiction

24. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F19

25. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F20

26. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F21

28 Summary proceedings for offence under s. 3, and amendments of ss. 3 and 4, of Perjury Act, 1911.

C21

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”.

C22

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

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F22

Annotations:
Amendments (Textual)
Modifications etc. (not altering text)
C2

The text of s. 28(1)(2), (S. 28 (2) now spent), 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.

29. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F23

30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F24

31. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F25

Miscellaneous

32. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F26

C4C5C6C7C8C12C13C15C14C36C23C25C17C16C18C19C20C21C22C24C26C27C28C29C30C40C31C32C33C34C35C37C38C39C41C42C44C43C45C46C47C48C49C50C51C52C53C54C55C56C57C5833 Procedure on charge of offence against corporation. C3

1

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F27

3

F28On 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 proceedingsF49....

5

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F27

C96

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.

34. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F29

Part III Amendments as to Offences

35. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F30

C1136 Forgery of passport. C10

1

F31The 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

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F32

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 F33level 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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F34

39. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F35

40. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F36

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—

F50a

the expression “court” means any court of justice (including the court of a coroner), apart from the Supreme Court;

b

the expression “Judge” includes . . . F37, 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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F38

43. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F39

Part IV Miscellaneous and General

44. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F40

46. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F41

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F42

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:

  • . . . F43

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

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F44

F45F45SCHEDULE 1

Annotations:
Amendments (Textual)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F45

F46F46SCHEDULE 2

Annotations:
Amendments (Textual)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F46

F47F47SCHEDULE 3

Annotations:
Amendments (Textual)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F47