The Crown Court Rules (Northern Ireland) 1979

Made: 22nd March 1979

Coming into operation: 18th April 1979

We, the Crown Court Rules Committee, in exercise of the powers conferred upon us by sections 48(5), 51(5) and 51(1) of the Judicature (Northern Ireland) Act 1978[^f00028] and section 7 of the Costs in Criminal Cases Act (Northern Ireland) 1968[^f00029], hereby with the concurrence of the Lord Chancellor make the following Rules:

PART I — INTRODUCTION

Citation and Commencement

1

These Rules may be cited as the Crown Court Rules (Northern Ireland) 1979 and shall come into operation on 18th April 1979.

Interpretation

2

• (1) In these Rules, unless the context otherwise requires,—

• "[^f00030] the Act" means the Judicature (Northern Ireland) Act 1978;

• “chief clerk” [[^f00031]...] includes such other [[^f00032] civil servant in the Department of Justice] as may be authorised to act on his behalf for the purpose in question;

• “committal proceedings” means proceedings before a magistrates' court conducting a preliminary investigation or preliminary enquiry;

• “depositions” means depositions taken before a magistrates' court and includes written statements tendered in evidence under section 3 of the Criminal Procedure (Committal for Trial Act) (Northern Ireland) 1968[^f00033], and

• document exhibited to such depositions or statements and the statement of the accused;

• “judge” means a judge of the High Court or a county court judge;

• “magistrates' court” means a court under the Magistrates' Courts Act (Northern Ireland) 1964[^f00034] or the Children and Young Persons Act (Northern Ireland) 1968[^f00035];

• “prosecutor” means the Director of Public Prosecutions when the prosecution is being carried on by him;

• “Taxing Master” means the Master (Taxing Office) or such other person as may be designated or appointed to exercise jurisdiction under section 60(1) of the Act;

• [[^f00036] “the 1999 Act” means the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999.)

• [[^f00037] “the 1999 Order” means the Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1999[^f00038].]

• [[^f00039] “the 2004 Order” means the Criminal Justice (Evidence) (Northern Ireland) Order 2004[^f00040].]

• (2) In these Rules any reference to a rule or schedule shall be construed as a reference to a rule contained in these Rules or as the case may be, to a schedule thereto; and any reference in a rule to a paragraph shall be construed as a reference to a paragraph of that rule.

• (3) The forms in the schedule shall be used where applicable with such variations as the circumstances of the particular case require.

PART II — COSTS BETWEEN PARTIES IN CROWN COURT

Taxation of costs

3

• (1) Where [[^f00041]...] the Court has made an order for the costs of any proceedings to be paid by a party and the Court has not fixed a sum, the amount of the costs to be paid shall be ascertained as soon as possible by the Taxing Master.

• (2) On taxation there shall be allowed such sum as is reasonably sufficient to compensate the party for the expenses properly incurred by him.

Review by Taxing Master

4

• (1) Any party dissatisfied with the taxation of any costs by the Taxing Master under rule 3 may apply to him to review his decision.

• (2) The application shall be made by giving notice to the Taxing Master and to any other party to the taxation within 14 days of the taxation specifying the items in respect of which the application is made and the grounds of objection.

• (3) Any party to whom notice is given under the preceding paragraph may within 14 days of the service of the notice deliver to the Taxing Master answers in writing—

• to the objections specified in that notice and, if he does, shall send copies to the applicant for the review and to any other party to the taxation.

• (4) The Taxing Master shall reconsider his taxation in the light of the objections and answers, if any, of the parties and any oral representations made by them or on behalf and shall notify them of the result of his review.

• (5) Before reaching his decision the Taxing Master may consult the judge who made the order for costs.

Appeal to High Court Judge

5

• (1) Any party dissatisfied with the result of a review of taxation under rule 4 may, within 14 days of receiving notification thereof, request the Taxing Master to supply him with reasons in writing for his decision and may within 14 days of the receipt of such reasons appeal to the High Court.

• (2) On the hearing of the appeal the High Court may reverse, affirm or amend the decision appealed against or make such other order as it thinks appropriate.

• (3) Unless the High Court otherwise directs, no further evidence shall be received on the hearing of the appeal; and no ground of objection shall be valid which was not raised on the review under rule 4.

Supplementary provisions

6

• (1) On a review or an appeal to the High Court the Taxing Master or that Court may make such order as seems just in respect of the costs of the hearing of the review or the appeal, as the case may be.

• (2) Any time prescribed by rule 4 or 5 may be extended by the Taxing Master or the High Court on such terms as seem just.

PART III — BAIL

Interpretation

7

In this Part, save where the context otherwise requires;—

• “application” means an application to the Court in relation to bail;

• “surrender to custody” means, in relation to a person released on bail, surrendering himself into the custody of the Court or other proper authority (according to the requirements of the order admitting him to bail) at the time and place appointed for him to do so.

Applications in relation to bail

8

• (1) Every application, other than an application during a trial before the Court, shall be made by delivering to the office of the chief clerk at Belfast a notice setting out the grounds of the application and referring to any earlier application to the Court, the High Court or a magistrates' court in the same proceedings.

• (2) An application by a defendant shall be in Form 1 in the schedule and an application by any other person shall be in Form 1A.

• (3) The chief clerk on receiving the notice shall—

• (a) give a copy thereof to the prosecutor, unless he is the applicant, and at the same time inform him by telephone of the terms of the notice;

• (b) where the application has been made by the prosecutor or a surety in respect of a defendant who is on bail, give a copy of the notice to that defendant; and

• (c) subject to any direction of the Court, list the application for hearing for a time not later than 7 days from the date on which he received the notice and inform the defendant and the prosecutor and, where he is the applicant, the surety of the time and place of the hearing.

• (4) The hearing shall be at Belfast unless the chief clerk at Belfast, subject to and in accordance with directions of a judge, arranges otherwise.

Admission to bail

9

• (1) Where a defendant is admitted to bail under rule 8, the chief clerk shall forthwith file the order admitting the defendant to bail, and such order shall be in Form 2 in the schedule.

• (2) The chief clerk shall give a copy of the order to the defendant by handing it to the person having custody of him.

Security instead of recognizances

10

The Court may, instead of requiring a person to enter into a recognizance, consent to his giving other security, and such security may be given by that person or on his behalf.

Persons to take recognizances

11

• (1) The Court may direct that a recognizance shall be entered into or other security given before—

• (a) a magistrates' court;

• (b) a clerk of petty sessions;

• (c) an officer of the Court;

• (d) in cases to which section 51(7)(a) of the Act applies, the officer in charge of the police station to which a defendant is taken or a police officer of the rank of inspector or above; or

• (e) where the person admitted to bail is in a prison or other place of detention, the governor or keeper of that place.

• (2) Where the Court gives no direction under paragraph (1), a recognizance may, where the statutory conditions are satisfied, be entered into before any of the persons specified in that paragraph.

Manner in which recognizance is to be entered into

12

• (1) A recognizance may be entered into or security given before a person specified in rule 11(1) on the production to him of a copy of the order admitting the defendant to bail with or without sureties of such number and amount as the Court may direct.

• (1A) [^f00042]A person specified in rule 11(1) before whom a recognizance may be entered into may require, a person offering himself as surety to a recognizance to produce evidence as to his means and as to his identity and place of abode and to sign a certificate that he is possessed of sufficient means to pay the sum in which he is to be bound under the recognizance.

• (1B) Such certificate shall be attached to or endorsed on the recognizance.]

• (2) Where, in pursuance of an order of the Court, a recognizance is entered into or other security given before any person, it shall be his duty to cause the recognizance or, as the case may be, a statement of the other security given to be transmitted forthwith to the chief clerk; and a copy of the recognizance or statement shall at the same time be sent to the governor or keeper of the prison or other place of detention in which the person named in the order was detained, unless the recognizance was entered into or other security given before such governor or keeper.

Estreat of recognizance

13

Where a recognizance has been entered into by or in respect of a defendant admitted to bail to appear before the Court and it appears to the Court that default has been made in performing the conditions of the recognizance, the Court may either of its own motion or on the application of the prosecutor order the recognizance to be estreated in any such sum not exceeding the amount of the recognizance as it thinks fit to order.

Forfeiture of security

14

• (1) Where security has been given by or on behalf of a defendant for his surrender to custody and the Court is satisfied that he failed to surrender to custody, then, unless it appears to the Court that he had reasonable cause for his failure, the Court may either of its own motion or on the application of the prosecutor order the forfeiture of the security in any such sum not exceeding the value thereof as it thinks fit to order.

• (2) A security which has been ordered to be forfeited under paragraph (1) shall to the extent of the forfeiture—

• (a) if it consists of money, be accounted for and paid in the same manner as a fine imposed by the Court would be; and

• (b) if it does not consist of money, be enforced by such magistrates' court as may be specified in the order.

Procedure for estreat or forfeiture

15

Where the Court is to consider making an order under rule 13 or 14, the chief clerk shall give notice to that effect to the person by whom the recognizance was entered into or security given, indicating the time and place at which the matter will be considered, and no such order shall be made before the expiration of 7 days after the notice required by this paragraph has been given.

Recommittal

16

If a defendant has been released on bail and, on the application of the prosecutor or a surety, it appears to the Court that—

• (a) he has failed to surrender to custody;

• (b) he is in breach of any condition of his bail; or

• (c) he is unlikely to surrender to custody,

the Court may order that he be recommitted to custody and issue a warrant for his arrest.

Variation of order admitting to bail

17

Where the Court has admitted a defendant to bail, it may, on application by the defendant or the prosecutor or a surety,—

• (a) vary or dispense with any conditions of bail or impose conditions in respect of bail to which the defendant has been admitted unconditionally;

• (b) increase or reduce the amount in which the defendant or any surety is bound; or

• (c) require sureties or additional sureties or dispense with any surety.

Postponement of taking recognizances

18

The Court may, on making an order admitting to bail, direct that the taking of recognizances be postponed for such period as the Court thinks fit.

PART IV — INDICTMENTS

Material, etc, for indictments

19

• (1) An indictment shall be on durable paper, and may be produced by one of the following means, that is to say, printing, writing (which must be clear and legible) and typewriting otherwise than by means of a carbon, and may be produced partly by one of those means and partly by another or others of them.

• (2) Each sheet on which an indictment is set out shall be 297 millimetres long and 210 millimetres wide, and if more than one sheet is required, the sheets shall be fastened together in book form.

• (3) A proper margin not less than 25 millimetres wide shall be kept on the left-hand side of each sheet.

• (4) An indictment shall not be open to objection by reason only of any failure to comply with this rule.

[Form of an indictment

20

• (1) Subject to paragraph (2), an indictment shall be in Form 3 in the Schedule.

• (2) Where the Court makes an order under section 17 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 for a trial to take place on the basis that the trial of some, but not all, of the counts included in the indictment shall be conducted without a jury, an indictment shall be in Form 3A in the Schedule.]

Joining of charges in one indictment

21

Charges for any offences may be joined in the same indictment if those charges are founded on the same facts or form or are a part of a series of offences of the same or a similar character.

Mode in which offences are to be charged

22

• (1) A description of the offence charged in an indictment or, where more than one offence is charged in an indictment, of each offence so charged shall be set out in the indictment in a separate paragraph called a count.

• (2) A count of an indictment shall commence with a statement of the offence charged, called the statement of offence.

• (3) The statement of offence shall describe the offence shortly in ordinary language, avoiding as far as possible the use of technical terms, and without necessarily stating all the essential elements of the offence, and, if the offence charged is on created by statute, shall contain a reference to the section of the statute creating the offence.

• (4) After the statement of the offence, particulars of such offence shall be set out in ordinary language, in which the use of technical terms shall not be necessary:

Provided that where any rule of law or any statute limits the particulars of an offence which are required to be given in an indictment, nothing in this rule shall require any more particulars to be given than those so required.

• (5) Where an indictment contains more than one count, the counts shall be numbered consecutively.

Provisions as to statutory offences

23

• (1) Where an enactment constituting an offence states the offence to be the doing or the omission to do any one of any different acts in the alternative, or the doing or the omission to do any act in any one of any different capacities, or with any one of any different intentions, or states any part of the offence in the alternative, the acts, omissions, capacities, or intentions or other matters stated in the alternative in the enactment may be stated in the alternative in the count charging the offence.

• (2) It shall not be necessary, in any count charging a statutory offence, to negative any exception or exemption from or qualification to the operation of the statute creating the offence.

Description of property

24

• (1) The description of property in a count in an indictment shall be in ordinary language and such as to indicate with reasonable clearness the property referred to, and if the property is so described it shall not be necessary (except when required for the purpose of describing an offence depending on any special ownership of property or special value of property) to name the person to whom the property belongs or state the value of the property.

• (2) Where property is vested in more than one person and the owners of the property are referred to in an indictment, it shall be sufficient to describe the property as owned by one of those person by name with others, and if the persons owning the property are a body of persons with a collective name, such as “Trustees", "Commissioners", or "Club” or other such name, it shall be sufficient to use the collective name without naming an individual.

Description of persons

25

The description or designation in an indictment of the accused person or any other person to whom reference is made therein, shall be such as is reasonably sufficient to identify him, without necessarily stating his correct name or his abode, style, degree or occupation; and if, owing to the name of the person not being known, or for any other reason, it is impracticable or undesirable to give such a description or designation such description or designation shall be given as is reasonable in the circumstance, or such person may be described as “a person unknown”.

Description of document

26

Where it is necessary to refer any document or instrument in an indictment, it shall be sufficient to describe it by any name or designation by which it is usually known, or by the purport thereof, without setting out any copy thereof.

General rule as to description

27

• (1) Subject to any other provisions of these Rules, it shall be sufficient to describe in ordinary language any place, time, thing, matter, act or omission whatsoever to which it is necessary to refer in any indictment in such a manner as to indicate with reasonable clearness the place, time, thing, matter. Act or omission referred to.

• (2) Figures shall and abbreviations may be used in an indictment for expressing anything which is commonly expressed thereby.

Statement of intent

28