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CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1953

CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1953 - LONG TITLE

An Act to abolish penal servitude, hard labour and prison divisions
and to make further provision for dealing with offenders and for
the administration of criminal justice; to amend the law relating to
certain criminal offences; to confer powers on courts of quarter
sessions with respect to the adjournment of criminal and other
appeals pending in such courts; and for purposes connected with the
aforesaid matters or any of them.
[5th May 1953]
PART I

CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1953 - SECT 1

1.(1) No person shall be sentenced by a court to penal servitude;
and every enactment which operates to empower a court to pass a
sentence of penal servitude in any case shall operate so as to
empower that court to pass a sentence of imprisonment for a term
not exceeding the maximum term of penal servitude for which a
sentence could have been passed in that case immediately before the
commencement of this Act.

(2) No person shall be sentenced by a court to imprisonment with
hard labour; and every enactment which operates to empower a court
to pass a sentence of imprisonment with hard labour in any case
shall operate so as to empower that court to pass a sentence of
imprisonment for a term not exceeding the term for which a sentence
of imprisonment with hard labour could have been passed in that
case immediately before the commencement of this Act; and so far as
any enactment in force immediately before the commencement of this
Act requires or permits prisoners to be kept to hard labour it
shall cease to have effect and accordingly the words "with or
without hard labour" wherever occurring in any enactment prescribing
the punishment for an offence are hereby repealed.

(3) So far as any enactment in force immediately before the
commencement of this Act provides that a person sentenced to
imprisonment or committed to prison is or may be directed to be
treated as an offender of a particular division, or to be placed
in a separate division, it shall cease to have effect.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1953 - SECT 2
Commutation of death sentence to sentence of imprisonment.

2. Where a person who has been sentenced to death has been
pardoned on condition that he serves a term of imprisonment, that
person shall be deemed to have been lawfully sentenced by the court
before which he was convicted to imprisonment for the said term.

S.3 rep. by 1967 c.18 (NI) s.15(2) sch. 2 Pt.II

CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1953 - SECT 4
Taking of other offences into consideration in imposing punishment.

4.(1) Where a person, on being convicted of an offence, admits
himself guilty of any other offence and asks the court to take it
into consideration in imposing punishment, the court may, unless
objection is made by or on behalf of the prosecutor or unless it
is an offence in respect of which the court has not jurisdiction
to award punishment, take it into consideration accordingly.

(2) If the court takes an offence into consideration, a note of
that fact shall be made and filed with the record of the sentence,
and the accused shall not be prosecuted for that offence, unless
his conviction is reversed or quashed or otherwise annulled.

Ss.5,6 rep. by 1968 c.29 (NI) s.35(3) sch.5 Pt.I. S.7 rep. by 1980
NI10 art.4(3) sch.3. S.8 rep. by 1968 c.34 (NI) s.181(3) sch.8

Amendments of Forfeiture Act, 1870.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1953 - SECT 9

9.Subs.(1) rep. by SLR 1973

(2) Where any pension or superannuation allowance has been forfeited
under section two of the Forfeiture Act, 1870, the authority by
whom the pension or allowance was granted may restore the pension
or allowance either in whole or in part, but nothing in this
sub-section shall authorise or permit the making, on foot of any
such pension or allowance, of a payment in respect of a period
occurring before the commencement of this Act.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1953 - SECT 10
Other provisions as to property of convicted persons.

10.(1) A court before which a person is convicted of an offence
punishable with imprisonment [or detention in a young offenders
centre] for a term exceeding six months,..., may make an order (in
this section referred to as a "stay") prohibiting that person (in
this section referred to as the "convicted prisoner") or any other
person acting on his behalf from disposing of or dealing with all
or any property of his, or held in trust for him or in his
possession, custody or control at the time of his arrest, otherwise
than in accordance with the judgment or order of a civil court of
competent jurisdiction; and a stay shall, subject to the provisions
of this section, have effect during such period as the court may
think proper to enable all claims to or against such property to
be determined and effectively enforced by civil process.

(2) A stay may be made on the application of the Crown or of any
person who appears to the court to have

(a)any claim to or against any property which is or appears to be
the property of or held in trust for the convicted prisoner or
which is or appears to have been in his possession, custody or
control; or

(b)any good cause of action against the convicted prisoner.

(3) A stay may contain such directions and be subject to such
conditions as the court may consider advisable for the purpose of
ensuring that the property to which the stay relates is readily
available to meet the claims of any persons alleged to have
suffered loss of property or other injury as a result of an act
of the convicted prisoner, or to be taken in execution by civil
process.

(4) A copy of any stay made under this section may be sent by
registered post addressed to any person or officer (including a
person responsible for keeping any register or other record of
moneys, stocks, shares, securities or other assets) appearing to be
in any way concerned with any property referred to in the stay and
if any person or officer to whom such copy is so sent knowingly
and wilfully neglects or fails to comply with or acts in breach or
contravention of such stay or of any direction or condition
contained therein he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be
liable

(a)on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding
six months or to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, or to
both such imprisonment and such fine; or

(b)on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not
exceeding two years or to a fine not exceeding five hundred pounds,
or to both such imprisonment and such fine.

(5) In this section

"property" includes any thing in action, and any estate or interest
in or right to or over real or personal property; and

"possession" includes receipt of income, or rents and profits or the
right to receive the same.

S.11 rep. by 1964 c.21 (NI) s.172 sch.7

CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1953 - SECT 12
Evidence by certificate.

12.(1) In any criminal proceedings, a certificate purporting to be
signed by a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, not below the
rank of sergeant, or by a person appearing to the court to be
suitably qualified, and certifying that a plan or drawing exhibited
thereto is a plan or drawing made by him of the place or object
specified in the certificate, and that the plan or drawing is
correctly drawn to a scale so specified, shall be evidence of the
relative position of the things shown on the plan or drawing.

Subs.(2) rep. by 1973 NI17 art.17(2) sch.4; subs.(3) rep. by 1969
c.16 (NI) s.31(2) sch.3 Pt.II

(4) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to make a
certificate... admissible as evidence in proceedings for an offence
except where and to the extent to which oral evidence to the like
effect would have been admissible in those proceedings.

(5) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to make a
certificate... admissible as evidence in proceedings for any offence

(a)unless a copy thereof has, not less than seven days before the
hearing or trial, been served on the person charged with the
offence or on his solicitor, if any; or

(b)if that person or his solicitor, not later than three days
before the hearing or trial or within such further time as the
court may in special circumstances allow, serves notice on the
prosecutor or his solicitor requiring the attendance at the trial of
the person who signed the certificate...

S.13 rep. by 1964 c.21 (NI) s.172 sch.7

CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1953 - SECT 14
Proof of previous convictions by finger-prints.

14.(1) A previous conviction may be proved against any person in
any criminal proceedings by the production of such evidence of the
conviction as is mentioned in this section, and by showing that his
finger-prints and those of the person convicted are the finger-prints
of the same person.

(2) A certificate purporting to be signed by or on behalf of the
Inspector-General of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, containing
particulars relating to a conviction extracted from the criminal
records kept by or available to the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and
certifying that the copies of the finger-prints referred to in the
certificate are copies of the finger-prints appearing from the said
records to have been taken [under or by virtue of any enactment in
that behalf in force in any part of the United Kingdom (including
an enactment of the Parliament of Northern Ireland)], from the
person convicted on the occasion of the conviction, shall be
evidence of the conviction and evidence that the copies of the
finger-prints referred to in the certificate are copies of the
finger-prints of the person convicted.

(3) A certificate purporting to be signed by or on behalf of the
governor of a prison, Borstal institution [, young offenders centre]
or other institution for the treatment of offenders in which any
person has been detained in connection with any criminal proceedings,
certifying that the finger-prints referred to in the certificate were
taken from him while he was so detained, shall be evidence in
those proceedings that the finger-prints referred to in the
certificate are the finger-prints of that person.

(4) A certificate, purporting to be signed by or on behalf of the
Inspector-General of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and certifying
that the finger-prints, copies of which are certified as aforesaid
by or on behalf of the said Inspector-General to be copies of the
finger-prints of a person previously convicted, and the finger-prints
certified by or on behalf of the governor as aforesaid, or
otherwise shown, to be the finger-prints of the person against whom
the previous conviction is sought to be proved are the finger-prints
of the same person, shall be evidence of the matter so certified.

(5) The method of proving a previous conviction authorised by this
section shall be in addition to any other method of proving the
conviction.

[(6) In this section, any reference to finger-prints shall be
construed as including a reference to palm-prints.]

Ss.15,16 rep. by 1955 c.27 (NI) s.78 sch.3. Ss. 17,18 rep. by 1969
c.16 (NI) s.31(2) sch.3 Pt.I

CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1953 - SECT 19
Imitation, etc., of currency or bank notes.

19.(1) If any person makes, or causes to be made, or uses for any
purpose whatsoever, or utters, any document purporting to be, or in
any way resembling, or so nearly resembling as to be calculated to
deceive, any currency or bank note, or any part thereof, he shall
be guilty of an offence against this section and shall be liable
on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding [#20], and it shall
be lawful for the court dealing with the case to order the
document in respect of which the offence was committed, and any
copies of that document, or any plates, blocks, dies or other
instruments used for, or capable of being used for, printing or
reproducing any such documents which are in the possession of the
offender to be destroyed.

(2) If any person whose name appears on any document the making of
which is an offence under this section refuses, without lawful
excuse, to disclose to a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary on
being so required the name and address of the person by whom it
was printed or otherwise made, he shall be liable on summary
conviction to a fine not exceeding [#20].

(3) Where the name of any person appears on any document in
respect of which any person is charged with an offence under
sub-section (1) of this section, or on any other document used or
distributed in connection with that document, it shall be prima
facie evidence that that person caused the document to be made.

(4) In this section the expression "currency note" means a currency
note issued under the Currency and Bank Notes Act, 1914, and
includes any note of a similar character, by whatever name called,
issued by or on behalf of the Government of any foreign state or
of the Republic of Ireland or any part of Her Majesty's Dominions
outside the United Kingdom, and the expression "bank note" has the
same meaning as in the Forgery Act, 1913.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1953 - SECT 20
Punishment for pretending to be a member of the Royal Ulster
Constabulary.

20.Subs.(1) amends s.8 of 1919 c.68

(2) Any person who falsely represents himself to be a member of
the Royal Ulster Constabulary or to be a person who is or has
been entitled to use or wear any uniform, decoration, medal, medal
ribbon, badge or emblem officially supplied or authorised for the
use of the Royal Ulster Constabulary or anything so nearly
resembling any such uniform, decoration, medal, medal ribbon, badge
or emblem as to be calculated to deceive shall

(a)on summary conviction, be liable to imprisonment for a term not
exceeding three months or to a fine not exceeding twenty-five
pounds, or to both such imprisonment and such fine; and

(b)on conviction on indictment, be liable to imprisonment for a term
not exceeding twelve months or to a fine not exceeding one hundred
pounds, or to both such imprisonment and such fine:

Provided that this section shall not prevent persons from wearing
any uniform or dress in the course of a stage play or music hall
or circus performance.

S.21 rep. by SLR 1973. S.22 substitutes s.6 of 1908 c.45

CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1953 - SECT 23
Amendment of s.42 of the Offences against the Person Act, 1861.

23.Subs.(1) substitutes s.42 of 1861 c.100

(2) For the removal of doubt it is hereby declared that the
references in section forty-six of the Summary Jurisdiction Act
(Northern Ireland), 1953, or in any other enactment to the said
section forty-two shall be construed as references to that section
as amended by this section.

Subs.(3) rep. by SLR 1973

S.24 rep. by 1959 c.25 (NI) s.154(3) sch.5

Power to arrest without warrant.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1953 - SECT 25

25.(1) A member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary may arrest without
warrant any person whom he reasonably suspects of having or
conveying in any manner anything stolen or unlawfully obtained.

(2) Where a person is seen or found committing or attempting to
commit or is reasonably suspected of committing or attempting to
commit or is reasonably suspected of having committed or attempted
to commit an offence against any of the following provisions:

Para.(a) rep. by 1969 c.16 (NI) s.31(2) sch.3 Pt.II

(b)section thirteen of the Debtors Act (Ireland), 1872;

Para.(c) rep. by 1969 c.16 (NI) s.31(2) sch.3 Pt.II

(d)section fifty-nine of the Summary Jurisdiction and Criminal Justice
Act (Northern Ireland), 1935;

Para.(e) rep. by 1969 c.13 (NI) s.42(1) sch.5

Subs.(3) rep. by 1968 c.28 (NI) s.14 sch.3

(4) No member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary shall be liable for
any loss or damage occasioned by or in the course of the exercise
of any of the powers conferred on him by this section, unless such
loss or damage was caused by him wantonly or maliciously.

S.26 rep. by SLR 1976

CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1953 - SECT 27
Interpretation.

27. In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears, the
following expressions have the meanings hereby respectively assigned
to them, that is to say

Definition rep. by 1980 NI10 art.4(3) sch.3

"court" does not include a court-martial;

"enactment" includes an enactment contained in a local Act and any
order, regulation or other instrument having effect by virtue of an
Act;

"member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary" includes an officer of
that force;

Definitions rep. by 1980 NI10 art.4(3) sch.3

"sentence" includes an order for custody in a remand home under
section fifty-six of the Children and Young Persons Act (Northern
Ireland), 1950, and an order sending an offender to a training
school (a school approved under section one hundred and six of the
Children and Young Persons Act (Northern Ireland), 1950), but does
not include a committal in default of payment of any sum of money
or for failing to do or abstain from doing anything required to be
done or left undone.

(2) Any reference in this Act to a previous sentence of
imprisonment shall be construed as including a reference to a
previous sentence of penal servitude; any such reference to a
previous sentence of Borstal training shall be construed as including
a reference to a previous sentence of detention in a Borstal
institution and any such reference to a previous conviction or
sentence shall be construed as a reference to a previous conviction
by a court in any part of the United Kingdom or the Republic of
Ireland and to a previous sentence passed by any such court.

(3) References in this Act to an offence punishable with
imprisonment [shall be construed in relation to any offender without
regard to any prohibition or restriction imposed by or under any
enactment upon the imprisonment of offenders of his age, but] shall
not be construed as including an offence for which the court is
required to impose a sentence of imprisonment for life.

Subs.(4)(5) rep. by 1980 NI10 art.4(3) sch.3; subs.(6) rep. by 1954
c.33 (NI) s.48(1) sch.

S.28, with Second Schedule, effects amendments. S.29 rep. by SLR
1973

CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1953 - SECT 30
Short title.

30.(1) This Act may be cited as the Criminal Justice Act (Northern
Ireland), 1953.

Subs.(2) rep. by SLR 1973

First Schedule rep. by SLR 1976. Second ScheduleAmendments. Third
Schedule rep. by SLR 1973