The certificate sent by the Magistrates on committal to the Crown Court indicated that the committal had been under legislation not yet applicable to the particular defendant. The procedure envisaged under each statute was the same, and, as this court pointed out, the committal was the judicial act of the magistrates, which must have taken place before the document came into existence.
Held: Lord Lane CJ said: ‘The justices undoubtedly had power to act as they did under the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1952, sections 7(1) so far as their power to commit for trial is concerned, and under the Criminal Justice Act 1967, section 1, so far as their power to commit for trial without consideration of the evidence is concerned. Consequently the fact that in the certificate which comes into existence later the wrong Act was mentioned seems to us in no way to invalidate the committal.’
Judges:
Lord Lane CJ
Citations:
[1981] 74 Cr App R 67
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Brizzalari v Regina CACD 19-Feb-2004
Limits to Requests for Adverse Inferences
In closing, prosecuting counsel had suggested that during the trial two matters had been mentioned by the defence which had not been mentioned earlier, and that the jury should feel free to draw proper inferences under the 1984 Act from that . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Practice, Magistrates
Updated: 11 September 2022; Ref: scu.194270