Criminal Justice Act 1967
1967 c.80
An Act to amend the law relating to the proceedings of criminal courts, including the law relating to evidence, and to the qualification of jurors, in such proceedings and to appeals in criminal cases; to reform existing methods and provide new methods of dealing with offenders; to make further provision for the treatment of offenders, the management of prisons and other institutions and the arrest of offenders unlawfully at large; to make further provision with respect to legal aid and advice in criminal proceedings; to amend the law relating to firearms and ammunition; to alter the penalties which may be imposed for certain offences; and for connected purposes.
[27th July 1967]
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.
(1) In any criminal proceedings ... 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:
Provided that the conditions mentioned in paragraphs (c) and (d) of this subsection shall not apply if the parties agree before or during the hearing that the statement shall be so tendered.
(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) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(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.
17 Entry of verdict of not guilty by order of a judge.
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.
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(2) For the purposes of this section any committal proceedings from which the proceedings on the summary trial arose shall be treated as part of the trial.
22 Extension of power of High Court to grant, or vary conditions of, bail.
(1) Where
(a) a magistrates’ court withholds bail in criminal proceedings or imposes conditions in granting bail in criminal proceedings, and
(b) it does so where an application to the court to state a case for the opinion of the High Court is made,
the High Court may ... grant bail or vary the conditions.
(1A) Where a magistrates' court withholds bail in extradition proceedings or imposes conditions in granting bail in extradition proceedings, the High Court may grant bail or vary the conditions.
(2) Where the High Court grants a person bail under this section it may direct him to appear at a time and place which the magistrates’ court could have directed and the recognizance of any surety shall be conditioned accordingly.
(3) Subsections ... (4) and (6) of section 37 of the Criminal Justice Act 1948 (ancillary provisions as to persons granted to bail by the High Court under that section and the currency of sentence in the case of persons so admitted) shall apply in relation to the powers conferred by this section and persons granted bail in pursuance of those powers as it applies in relation to the powers conferred by that section and persons granted bail in pursuance of those powers ...
(4) In this section ... ...“bail in criminal proceedings”, “extradition proceedings” and “vary” shall have the same meanings as they have in the Bail Act 1976.
(5) The powers conferred on the High Court by this section shall be in substitution for the powers so conferred by paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of section 37(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 1948, but except as aforesaid this section shall not prejudice any powers of the High Court to admit or direct the admission of persons to bail.
25 Restriction on issue of search warrants under Obscene Publications Act 1959.
A justice of the peace shall not issue a warrant under section 3(1) of the Obscene Publications Act 1959 (search for and seizure of obscene articles) except on an information laid by or on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions or by a constable.
33 Taking and use of finger-prints and palm-prints.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . in section 39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1948 (proof of previous convictions by finger-print) any reference to finger-prints shall be construed as including a reference to palm-prints.
(1) In this Part of this Act—
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“committal proceedings” means proceedings before a magistrates’ court acting a s examining justices;
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“director”, in relation to a body corporate which is established by or under any enactment for the purpose of carrying on under national ownership any industry or part of an industry or undertaking and whose affairs are managed by the members thereof, means a member of that body.
(2) Expressions used in any provision of this Part of this Act relating to magistrates’ courts or proceedings before such courts and also used in the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 have the same meanings in any such provision as they have in that Act.