Criminal Justice Act 1967

Part I — Criminal Procedure, etc.

Committal proceedings

Committal for trial without consideration of the evidence.

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Written statements before examining justices.

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• (1) In committal proceedings a written statement by any person shall, if the conditions mentioned in the next following subsection are satisfied, be admissible as evidence to the like extent as oral evidence to the like effect by that person.

• (2) The said conditions are:—

• (a) the statement purports to be signed by the person who made it;

• (b) the statement contains a declaration by that person to the effect that it is true to the best of his knowledge and belief and that he made the statement knowing that, if it were tendered in evidence, he would be liable to prosecution if he wilfully stated in it anything which he knew to be false or did not believe to be true;

• (c) before the statement is tendered in evidence, a copy of the statement is given, by or on behalf of the party proposing to tender it, to each of the other parties to the proceedings ; and

• (d) none of the other parties, before the statement is tendered in evidence at the committal proceedings, objects to the statement being so tendered under this section.

• (3) The following provisions shall also have effect in relation to any written statement tendered in evidence under this section, that is to say—

• (a) if the statement is made by a person under the age of twenty-one, it shall give his age;

• (b) if it is made by a person who cannot read it, it shall be read to him before he signs it and shall be accompanied by a declaration by the person who so read the statement to the effect that it was so read; and

• (c) if it refers to any other document as an exhibit, the copy given to any other party to the proceedings under paragraph (c) of the last foregoing subsection shall be accompanied by a copy of that document or by such information as may be necessary in order to enable the party to whom it is given to inspect that document or a copy thereof.

• (4) Notwithstanding that a written statement made by any person may be admissible in committal proceedings by virtue of this section, the court before which the proceedings are held may, of its own motion or on the application of any party to the proceedings, require that person to attend before the court and give evidence.

• (5) So much of any statement as is admitted in evidence by virtue of this section shall, unless the court commits the defendant for trial by virtue of the last foregoing section or the court otherwise directs, be read aloud at the hearing, and where the court so directs an account shall be given orally of so much of any statement as is not read aloud.

• (6) Any document or object referred to as an exhibit and identified in a written statement tendered in evidence under this section shall be treated as if it had been produced as an exhibit and identified in court by the maker of the statement.

• (7) Section 13(3) of the Criminal Justice Act 1925 (reading of deposition as evidence at the trial) shall apply to any written statement tendered in evidence in committal proceedings under this section, as it applies to a deposition taken in such proceedings, but in its application to any such statement that subsection shall have effect as if paragraph (b) thereof were omitted.

• (8) In section 2(2) of the Administration of Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1933 (procedure for preferring bills of indictment) the reference in proviso (i) to facts disclosed in any deposition taken before a justice in the presence of the defendant shall be construed as including a reference to facts disclosed in any such written statement as aforesaid.

• (9) Section 23 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1952 (use in summary trial of evidence given in committal proceedings) shall not apply to any such statement as aforesaid.

• (10) A person whose written statement is tendered in evidence in committal proceedings under this section shall be treated for the purposes of section 1 of the Criminal Procedure (Attendance of Witnesses) Act 1965 (witness orders) as a witness who has been examined by the court.

Restrictions on reports of committal proceedings.

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• (1) Except as provided by subsections (2) and (3) of this section, it shall not be lawful to publish in Great Britain a written report, or to broadcast in Great Britain a report, of any committal proceedings in England and Wales containing any matter other than that permitted by subsection (4) of this section.

• (2) A magistrates' court shall, on an application for the purpose made with reference to any committal proceedings by the defendant or one of the defendants, as the case may be, order that the foregoing subsection shall not apply to reports of those proceedings.

• (3) It shall not be unlawful under this section to publish or broadcast a report of committal proceedings containing any matter other than that permitted by the next following subsection.—

• (a) where the magistrates' court determines not to commit the defendant or the defendants for trial, after it so determines;

• (b) where the court commits the defendant or any of the defendants for trial, after the conclusion of his trial or, as the case may be, the trial of the last to be tried;

and where at any time during the inquiry the court proceeds to try summarily the case of one or more of the defendants under section 18, 19 or 20 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1952 (summary trial of indictable offences), while committing the other defendant or one or more of the other defendants for trial, it shall not be unlawful under this section to publish or broadcast as part of a report of the summary trial, after the court determines to proceed as aforesaid, a report of so much of the committal proceedings containing any such matter as takes place before the determination.

• (4) The following matters may be contained in a report of committal proceedings published or broadcast without an order under subsection (2) of this section before the time authorised by the last foregoing subsection, that is to say.—

• (a) the identity of the court and the names of the examining justices;

• (b) the names, addresses and occupations of the parties and witnesses and the ages of the defendant or defendants and witnesses;

• (c) the offence or offences, or a summary of them, with which the defendant or defendants is or are charged;

• (d) the names of counsel and solicitors engaged in the proceedings;

• (e) any decision of the court to commit the defendant or any of the defendants for trial, and any decision of the court on the disposal of the case of any defendants not committed;

• (f) where the court commits the defendant or any of the defendants for trial, the charge or charges, or a summary of them, on which he is committed and the court to which he is committed;

• (g) where the committal proceedings are adjourned, the date and place to which they are adjourned:

• (h) any arrangements as to bail on committal or adjournment ;

• (i) whether legal aid was granted to the defendant or any of the defendants.

• (5) If a report is published or broadcast in contravention of this section, the following persons, that is to say—

• (a) in the case of a publication of a written report as part of a newspaper or periodical, any proprietor, editor or publisher of the newspaper or periodical;

• (b) in the case of a publication of a written report other wise than as part of a newspaper or periodical, the person who publishes it;

• (c) in the case of a broadcast of a report, any body corporate which transmits or provides the programme in which the report is broadcast and any person having functions in relation to the programme corresponding to those of the editor of a newspaper or periodical;

shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £500.

• (6) Proceedings for an offence under this section shall not, in England and Wales, be instituted otherwise than by or with the consent of the Attorney-General.

• (7) Subsection (1) of this section shall be in addition to, and not in derogation from, the provisions of any other enactment with respect to the publication of reports and proceedings of magistrates' and other courts.

Notice of result of committal proceedings.

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Where a magistrates' court acting as examining justices commits any person for trial or determines to discharge him, the clerk of the court shall, on the day on which the committal proceedings are concluded or the next day, cause to be displayed in a part of the court house to which the public have access a notice—

• (a) in either case giving that person's name, address, and age (if known);

• (b) in a case where the court so commits him, stating the charge or charges on which he is committed and the court to which he is committed;

• (c) in a case where the court determines to discharge him, describing the offence charged and stating that it has so determined.

Privilege of newspaper reports of committal proceedings in libel actions.

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Any report in a newspaper, and any broadcast report, of committal proceedings in a case where publication is permitted by virtue only of section 3(3) of this Act, published as soon as practicable after it is so permitted, shall be treated for the purposes of section 3 of the Law of Libel Amendment Act 1888 (privilege of contemporaneous newspaper reports of court proceedings) and section 9(2) of the Defamation Act 1952 (extension of the said section 3 to broadcasting) as having been published or broadcast contemporaneously with the committal proceedings.

Duty of examining justices to sit in open court.

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• (1) Examining justices shall sit in open court except where any enactment contains an express provision to the contrary and except where it appears to them as respects the whole or any part of committal proceedings that the ends of justice would not be served by their sitting in open court.

• (2) Section 4(2) of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1952 (no obligation on examining justices to sit in open court) is hereby repealed.

Signature of depositions.

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Miscellaneous provisions as to evidence, procedure and trial

Proof of criminal intent.

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A court or jury, in determining whether a person has committed an offence,—

• (a) shall not be bound in law to infer that he intended or foresaw a result of his actions by reason only of its being a natural and probable consequence of those actions; but

• (b) shall decide whether he did intend or foresee that result by reference to all the evidence, drawing such inferences from the evidence as appear proper in the circumstances.

Proof by written statement.

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• (1) In any criminal proceedings, other than committal proceedings under sections 4 to 6 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980, a written statement by any person shall, if such of the conditions mentioned in the next following subsection as are applicable are satisfied, be admissible as evidence to the like extent as oral evidence to the like effect by that person.

• (2) The said conditions are—

• (a) the statement purports to be signed by the person who made it;

• (b) the statement contains a declaration by that person to the effect that it is true to the best of his knowledge and belief and that he made the statement knowing that, if it were tendered in evidence, he would be liable to prosecution if he wilfully stated in it anything which he knew to be false or did not believe to be true;

• (c) before the hearing at which the statement is tendered in evidence, a copy of the statement is served, by or on behalf of the party proposing to tender it, on each of the other parties to the proceedings; and

• (d) none of the other parties or their solicitors, within the relevant period, serves a notice on the party so proposing objecting to the statement being tendered in evidence under this section:

• (2A) For the purposes of subsection (2)(d), “the relevant period” is—

• (a) such number of days, which may not be less than seven, from the service of the copy of the statement as may be prescribed by Criminal Procedure Rules, or

• (b) if no such number is prescribed, seven days from the service of the copy of the statement.

• (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (4) Notwithstanding that a written statement made by any person may be admissible as evidence by virtue of this section—

• (a) the party by whom or on whose behalf a copy of the statement was served may call that person to give evidence; and

• (b) the court may, of its own motion or on the application of any party to the proceedings, require that person to attend before the court and give evidence.

• (5) An application under paragraph (b) of the last foregoing subsection to a court other than a magistrates’ court may be made before the hearing and on any such application the powers of the court shall be exercisable

• (a) by a puisne judge of the High Court, a Circuit judge or Recorder sitting alone.; or

• (b) subject to subsection (5A), by a qualifying judge advocate (within the meaning of the Senior Courts Act 1981) sitting alone.

• (5A) Subsection (5)(b) applies only where the application in question is to the Crown Court.

• (6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (7) Any document or object referred to as an exhibit and identified in a written statement tendered in evidence under this section shall be treated as if it had been produced as an exhibit and identified in court by the maker of the statement.

• (8) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Proof by formal admission.

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• (1) Subject to the provisions of this section, any fact of which oral evidence may be given in any criminal proceedings may be admitted for the purpose of those proceedings by or on behalf of the prosecutor or defendant, and the admission by any party of any such fact under this section shall as against that party be conclusive evidence in those proceedings of the fact admitted.

• (2) An admission under this section—

• (a) may be made before or at the proceedings;

• (b) if made otherwise than in court, shall be in writing;

• (c) if made in writing by an individual, shall purport to be signed by the person making it and, if so made by a body corporate, shall purport to be signed by a director or manager, or the secretary or clerk, or some other similar officer of the body corporate;

• (d) if made on behalf of a defendant who is an individual, shall be made by his counsel or solicitor;

• (e) if made at any stage before the trial by a defendant who is an individual, must be approved by his counsel or solicitor (whether at the time it was made or subsequently) before or at the proceedings in question.

• (3) An admission under this section for the purpose of proceedings relating to any matter shall be treated as an admission for the purpose of any subsequent criminal proceedings relating to that matter (including any appeal or retrial).

• (4) An admission under this section may with the leave of the court be withdrawn in the proceedings for the purpose of which it is made or any subsequent criminal proceedings relating to the same matter.

Notice of alibi.

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Application of sections 9 to 11 to courts-martial.

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Majority verdicts of juries in criminal proceedings.

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Disqualification of ex-prisoners from serving on juries in criminal proceedings.

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Validation of verdict where juror disqualified.

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It is hereby declared that the verdict of a jury in criminal proceedings (as in other proceedings) is not void by reason only that a member of the jury is disqualified from serving on the jury in those proceedings.

Continuation of exemption from jury service at criminal trials.

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• (1) The persons to whom this section applies (being persons exempted from jury service by section 9 of the Juries Act 1870 in the case of persons mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (k), by section 4 of the Port of London Act 1959 in the case of persons mentioned in paragraph (l) and by section 43(2) of the British Transport Commission Act 1962 in the case of persons mentioned in paragraph (m) of the next following subsection) shall for ten years after the date on which they cease to hold the office or employment or practise the profession by virtue of which they are so exempt continue to enjoy the like exemption from serving on juries in criminal proceedings as they enjoy before that date.

• (2) The persons to whom this section shall apply are—

• (a) judges;

• (b) barristers-at-law;

• (c) solicitors, and their managing clerks;

• (d) the registrar of criminal appeals, clerks of assize and persons appointed or employed to assist him or them in the exercise of his or their functions;

• (e) clerks of the peace and their deputies ;

• (f) coroners;

• (g) prison officers;

• (h) sheriff's officers;

• (i) members of police forces and special constables for police areas;

• (j) metropolitan stipendiary magistrates;

• (k) justices of the peace ;

• (l) constables appointed by the Port of London Authority ; and

• (m) constables in the British Transport Police Force.

Entry of verdict of not guilty by order of a judge.

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Where a defendant arraigned on an indictment or inquisition pleads not guilty and the prosecutor proposes to offer no evidence against him, the court before which the defendant is arraigned may, if it thinks fit, order that a verdict of not guilty shall be recorded without any further steps being taken in the proceedings, and the verdict shall have the same effect as if the defendant had been tried and acquitted on the verdict of a jury or a court.

Restrictions on refusal of bail.

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Restriction on justices sitting after dealing with bail.

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