COURTS (NO. 3) ACT, 1986

AN ACT TO AMEND AND EXTEND THE COURTS (SUPPLEMENTAL PROVISIONS) ACTS, 1961 TO 1986. [19th December, 1986]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:

1 Issue of summonses in relation to offences.

1.—(1) Proceedings in the District Court in respect of an offence may be commenced by the issuing, as a matter of administrative procedure, of a document (referred to subsequently in this section as “a summons”) by the appropriate office of the District Court.

• (2) Summonses shall be issued under the general superintendence of an appropriate District Court clerk and the name of an appropriate District Court clerk shall appear on each summons.

• (3) A summons shall—

• (a) state shortly in ordinary language particulars of the offence alleged and the name and, if known, the address of the person alleged to have committed the offence, and

• (b) notify him that he will be accused of that offence at a sitting of the District Court which sitting shall be specified by reference to its date and location and, insofar as is practicable, its time.

• (4) An application for the issue of a summons in relation to an offence may be made to the appropriate office of the District Court by or on behalf of the Attorney General, the Director of Public Prosecutions, a member of the Garda Síochána or any person authorised by or under statute to prosecute the offence.

• (5) In any proceedings, a document purporting to be a summons shall, unless the contrary is shown, be deemed to be a summons duly applied for and issued.

• (6) A summons duly issued under this Act shall be deemed for all purposes to be a summons duly issued pursuant to the law in force immediately before the passing of this Act.

• (7)
• (a) Any provision made by or under any statute passed before the passing of this Act relating to the time for making a complaint in relation to an offence shall apply, with any necessary modifications, in relation to an application under subsection (4) of this section.

• (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) of this subsection, where a complaint in relation to an offence was duly made by a person referred to in subsection (4) of this section and was received, on or after the 20th day of March, 1986, and before the passing of this Act and during the period within which the complaint was required by law to be made, by a District Court clerk or a Peace Commissioner, then, not later than the 20th day of March, 1987, it shall be lawful for such person to apply under subsection (4) of this section for the issue of a summons in relation to the offence and for the appropriate office of the District Court to issue the summons.

• (8) The procedures provided for in this section in relation to applications for, and the issue of, summonses are without prejudice to any other procedures in force immediately before the passing of this Act whereby proceedings in respect of an offence can be commenced and, accordingly, any of those other procedures may be adopted, where appropriate, as if this Act had not been passed.

• (9) In this section—

“appropriate District Court clerk”, in relation to a summons, means a District Court clerk assigned to any District Court area in the District Court district in which a justice of the District Court has jurisdiction in relation to the offence to which the summons relates;

“appropriate office of the District Court”, in relation to a summons, means the office of any District Court clerk assigned to any District Court area in the District Court district in which a justice of the District Court has jurisdiction in relation to the offence to which the summons relates;

“summons” has the meaning assigned to it by subsection (1) of this section.

2 Short title, collective citation and construction.

2.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Courts (No. 3) Act, 1986.

• (2) The collective citation “the Courts (Supplemental Provisions) Acts, 1961 to 1986” shall include this Act and the said Courts (Supplemental Provisions) Acts, 1961 to 1986, shall be construed together as one.