Criminal Justice Act 1925

19 Power to dispense with grand jury at quarter sessions where all persons committed have pleaded guilty

(1) If by the fifth day preceding the day appointed for holding any quarter sessions no persons have been committed for trial at the sessions except persons in respect of whom a certificate has been transmitted in pursuance of section four of the [10 & 11 Geo. 5. c. 81.] Administration of Justice Act, 1920, stating that they have pleaded guilty or admitted the truth of the charge, there shall be deemed to be no business requiring the attendance of grand jurors at that sessions, and the provisions of the [8 Edw. 7. c. 41.] Assizes and Quarter Sessions Act, 1908, shall apply accordingly.

(2) In any case to which this section applies an indictment against any person for the offence in respect of which he was committed for trial may be presented to the court without having been found by a grand jury, and, where an indictment is so presented, it shall be proceeded with in the same manner as it would have been proceeded with before the commencement of this Act, and all enactments and rules of law relating to procedure in connection with indictable offences shall have effect accordingly.

(3) An indictment against any person presented to a court of quarter sessions in pursuance of this section may contain, in addition to the counts for the offences specified in the caption of the depositions, any further counts founded on facts or evidence disclosed in any examination or deposition taken before a justice in the presence of the accused.

A court of quarter sessions may in any case direct any such further counts as aforesaid to he added to any indictment presented to the court.

(4) Rules may he made under the [5 & 6 Geo. 5. c. 90.] Indictments Act, 1915, for carrying this section into effect, and in particular for modifying, so far as is necessary for the purpose of this section, any enactment, including any statutory form, and for applying with the necessary modifications the provisions of section three of the [11 & 12 Vict. c. 42.] Indictable Offences Act, 1848, relating to certificates of an indictment having been found.