PART 9ALLOCATION AND SENDING FOR TRIAL
GENERAL RULES
When this Part applies9.1.
(1)
This Part applies to the allocation and sending of cases for trial under—
(a)
sections 17A to 26 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 M1; and
(b)
sections 50A to 52 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 M2.
(2)
Rules 9.6 and 9.7 apply in a magistrates' court where the court must, or can, send a defendant to the Crown Court for trial, without allocating the case for trial there.
(3)
Rules 9.8 to 9.14 apply in a magistrates' court where the court must allocate the case to a magistrates' court or to the Crown Court for trial.
(4)
Rules 9.15 and 9.16 apply in the Crown Court, where a defendant is sent for trial there.
[Note. A magistrates' court's powers to send a defendant to the Crown Court for trial are contained in section 51 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 M3.
The exercise of the court's powers is affected by—
(a)
the classification of the offence (and the general rule, subject to exceptions, is that an offence classified as triable on indictment exclusively must be sent for Crown Court trial; an offence classified as triable only summarily must be tried in a magistrates' court; and an offence classified as triable either on indictment or summarily must be allocated to one or the other court for trial: see in particular sections 50A, 51 and 51A of the 1998 Act M4 and section 19 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 M5;
(b)
the defendant's age (and the general rule, subject to exceptions, is that an offence alleged against a defendant under 18 must be tried in a magistrates' court sitting as a youth court: see in particular sections 24 and 24A of the 1980 Act M6;
(c)
whether the defendant is awaiting Crown Court trial for another offence;
(d)
whether another defendant, charged with the same offence, is awaiting Crown Court trial for that offence; and
(e)
in some cases (destroying or damaging property; aggravated vehicle taking), whether the value involved is more or less than £5,000.
The court's powers of sending and allocation, including its powers (i) to receive a defendant's indication of an intention to plead guilty (see rules 9.7, 9.8 and 9.13) and (ii) to give an indication of likely sentence (see rule 9.11), may be exercised by a single justice: see sections 51 and 51A(11) of the 1998 Act, and sections 17E, 18(5) and 24D of the 1980 Act M7.]