Propose a change

Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980

Write the words of this act the way you think they should read. Solon shows your change as a redline against the published text and pins it to that exact text, so it can never be applied to wording you did not see.

Change 1

What to do with it
As published

116 Discharge of recognizance to keep the peace or be of good behaviour on complaint of surety.

(1) On complaint being made to a justice of the peace . . . by a surety to a recognizance to keep the peace or to be of good behaviour entered into before a magistrates’ court that the person bound by the recognizance as principal has been, or is about to be, guilty of conduct constituting a breach of the conditions of the recognizance, the justice may. . . issue a warrant to arrest the principal and bring him before a magistrates’ court . . . or a summons requiring the principal to appear before such a court; but the justice shall not issue a warrant unless the complaint is in writing and substantiated on oath. (2) The magistrates’ court before which the principal appears or is brought in pursuance of such a summons or warrant as aforesaid may, unless it adjudges the recognizance to be forfeited, order the recognizance to be discharged and order the principal to enter into a new recognizance, with or without sureties, to keep the peace or to be of good behaviour. (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Your change, as a redline

116 Discharge of recognizance to keep the peace or be of good behaviour on complaint of surety.

(1) On complaint being made to a justice of the peace . . . by a surety to a recognizance to keep the peace or to be of good behaviour entered into before a magistrates’ court that the person bound by the recognizance as principal has been, or is about to be, guilty of conduct constituting a breach of the conditions of the recognizance, the justice may. . . issue a warrant to arrest the principal and bring him before a magistrates’ court . . . or a summons requiring the principal to appear before such a court; but the justice shall not issue a warrant unless the complaint is in writing and substantiated on oath. (2) The magistrates’ court before which the principal appears or is brought in pursuance of such a summons or warrant as aforesaid may, unless it adjudges the recognizance to be forfeited, order the recognizance to be discharged and order the principal to enter into a new recognizance, with or without sureties, to keep the peace or to be of good behaviour. (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

One line that says what changes, such as "Halve the dog tax".

Who it helps, what it costs, what it fixes. It is what persuades people to support it.

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Think it through

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Questions to start with
Think it through
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