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MAGISTRATES' COURTS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1964 - SECT 131

1968 c.34

131.(1) Where any person is arrested without a warrant for any offence the
member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary for the time being in charge of the
constabulary station to which such person is brought shall inquire into the
complaint and

(a)where he is satisfied that the offence is not of a serious nature and that
the release of such person would not tend to defeat the ends of justice or to
cause injury or danger to any person, may, without prejudice to further
proceedings being brought against such person by way of summons or otherwise,
release him from custody, without requiring him to enter into a recognizance,
or may release him upon his entering into a recognizance to appear before a
magistrates' court at a time and place specified in the recognizance and to
answer to the complaint and a person entering into such recognizance shall be
deemed for the purpose of sections 55 and 56 to have been remanded on bail;

(b)where he is satisfied that the inquiry into the complaint cannot be
completed forthwith, may release such person from custody upon his entering
into a recognizance to appear at such constabulary station at such time as is
named in the recognizance unless he previously receives notice from a member
of the Royal Ulster Constabulary not below the rank of head constable that his
attendance is not required.

(2) A recognizance entered into for the purposes of this section may be taken
before the member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary for the time being in
charge of the constabulary station and the time to be specified in any such
recognizance shall, subject to subsection (3), be either the date of the next
petty sessions or a date not later than [twenty-eight] days from the date of
such recognizance.

(3) Where it appears to any such member that a person who has entered into a
recognizance to appear at a constabulary station is, by reason of illness or
other unavoidable cause, unable to appear at the time named in the
recognizance, such member may extend the time named in the recognizance for
such further period as may appear to be reasonable in the circumstances.

(4) Nothing in this section shall affect the operation of [section 31(5)] of
the Children and Young Persons Act (Northern Ireland) [1968].

© 1964 Crown Copyright

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