THE SUMMARY JURISDICTION ACTS, 1848-1884, REGULATING THE Duties of Justices of the Peace, WITH RESPECT TO Summary Convictions and Orders, and Indictable Offences, also the Prosecution of Offences WITH COPIOUS NOTES, CASES, INDEX, AND APPENDIX FIFTH EDITION BY W. CUNNINGHAM GLEN, BARRISTER-AT-LAW. LONDON: SHAW & SONS, FETTER LANE, FLEET STREET, E.C., Law Printers and Publishers. PREFACE. THE importance of the Summary Jurisdiction Acts to those engaged in proceedings before Justices in Courts of Summary Jurisdiction and in Petty Sessions, and in the administration of Criminal Justice, can scarcely be over-estimated; for they contain within themselves a complete code of magisterial practice with relation to summary convictions and orders, and to indictable offences, and they provide for the due protection of the Justices in the fair and reasonable discharge of their duties. Since Sir Robert Peel's and the Marquis of Lansdowne's Acts, no measures have passed the legislature which have so much improved the local administration of justice in England as these statutes, and the admirable manner in which those known as Jervis's Acts have worked is the best evidence of the skill and judgment with which they were framed by their author, the late Mr. JOHN FREDERICK ARCHBOLD, Barrister-at-Law. The Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1848 (11 & 12 Vict. c. 43), is supplemented by the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879 (42 & 43 Vict. c. 49), the Summary Jurisdiction (Process) Act, 1881 (44 & 45 Vict. c. 24), and the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1884 (47 & 48 Vict. c. 43), and together those Acts regulate the procedure before Justices of the Peace with respect to summary convictions and orders; whilst the Protection of Justices Act, 1848 (11 & 12 Vict. c. 44), and the Review of Justices Decisions Act, 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c. 26), provide for their protection from vexatious actions for acts done by them in the execution of their office. The 20 & 21 Vict. c. 43, amended or supplemented by the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879 (s. 33), enables either party to proceedings in a Court of Summary Jurisdiction to require Justices of the Peace to submit to the High Court of Justice points of law arising in any case adjudicated upon summarily in such Court. The 11 & 12 Vict. c. 78, provided for the decision of any difficult question of law that might arise in criminal trials; but until the 20 & 21 Vict. c. 43, there was no power by which the decision of the Justices who had adjudicated in summary proceedings within their jurisdiction upon a point of law could be removed into a Superior Court for authoritative decision except by writ of certiorari. Now, under the Summary Jurisdicction Act, 1879, any person aggrieved by a conviction order or determination, or other proceeding of a Court of Summary Jurisdiction, as being erroneous in point of law or in excess of jurisdiction, may apply to the Court to state a special case, and the case may be stated with respect to criminal matters, adjudicated upon summarily, as well as with respect to any other matter so adjudicated upon. The rule is well established that no appeal lies from a decision of Justices either in a matter of fact or law, unless it be expressly given by statute; but though the 20 & 21 Vict. c. 43, remedied that defect in respect of questions of law, it left untouched appeals in which matters of fact are involved: such appeals therefore still lie only to Quarter Sessions, and only when they are expressly allowed by statute. The general effect of the statute is to allow an appeal against any conviction or order of Justices to a superior Court of Common Law upon the ground that it is erroneous in point of law. Except where the application is made for a case to be stated under the direction of the Attorney-General, the Justices may refuse to allow the appeal if they are of opinion that the application is merely frivolous; but in such a case the appellant, if he think fit, may apply to the Court of Queen's Bench for a rule calling upon them to show cause why the appeal should not lie. The Act (12 & 13 Vict. c. 45) commonly known as Baine's Act, regulates the procedure in Courts of General and Quarter Sessions of the Peace on appeals from Justices' summary decisions. |