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Criminal Procedure (Right of Reply) Act 1964

LAWS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

THE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE (RIGHT OF REPLY) ACT 1964

(1964 c. 34)

An Act to amend the law relating to the prosecution's right of reply at trials on indictment

[10th June 1964]

Northern Ireland. This Act does not apply; see 2 (3), post.
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1. Right of reply at trials on indictment

(1) Upon the trial of any person on indictment-

(a) the prosecution shall not be entitled to the right of reply on the ground only that the Attorney General or the Solicitor General appears for the Crown at the trial; and

(b) the time at which the prosecution is entitled to exercise that right shall, notwithstanding anything in section 2 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1865, be after the close of the evidence for the defence and before the closing speech (if any) by or on behalf of the accused.

(2) (Repeals part of the Criminal Evidence Act 1898, s. 3, p. 868, ante.)

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NOTES

General Note. This Act is based on the recommendations in the Fourth Report of the Criminal Law Revision Committee (Cmnd. 2148), published in 1963, and is (except for a necessary modification of its short title) identical with the draft Bill annexed to that Report. Its effect is, in short, to ensure that the defence has the right to the last speech in all trials on indictment.

Changes in magistrates' courts procedure, both in the case of a magistrates' court inquiring into an offence as examining justices and trying an offence summarily, corresponding to those made by sub-s. (1)(b) of this section, are now incorporated in the Magistrates' Courts Rules 1968, S.I. 1968 No. 1920, rr. 4(11) proviso and 13(6), respectively. Similar changes in army and air force courts-martial procedure were made by the Rules of Procedure (Army) (Amendment) Rules 1964, S.I. 1964 No. 1006, r. 3(5), and the Rules of Procedure (Air Force) (Amendment) Rules 1964, S.I. 1964 No. 1282, r. 3(6).

Shall not be entitled ... on the ground only, etc. It was resolved by the Judges in December 1884 “that in those cases in which the Attorney General or Solicitor General is personally engaged, a reply where no witnesses are called for the defence is to be allowed as of right to counsel for the Crown, and in no others”, but this right had not been exercised since 1922, and in 1929 the then Law Officers had announced that they would not exercise it in future; see, in particular, the Fourth Report of the Criminal Law Revision Committee (Cmnd. 2148), para. 4. On the other hand, this right had not been created by the resolution of the Judges; cf. para. 5 of the Report just cited.

That right. That right is not exercisable where the defendant has called no evidence; cf., in particular, R. v. Hales, [1924] 1 K.B. 602. Neither is it exercisable on the ground only that the accused has given evidence or that documents have been put in evidence for the defence; see the Criminal Evidence Act 1898, s. 3, p. 868, ante, and the Criminal Justice Act 1948, s. 42(1), Vol. 8, p. 362. Moreover, it had by convention ceased to be exercised where the only evidence called by the defence was evidence as to the character of the accused; cf., in particular, the Fourth Report of the Criminal Law Revision Committee (Cmnd. 2148), para. 5.

The right of the prosecution to sum up in certain cases (see, in particular, the Criminal Procedure Act 1863, ss. 2 and 9, pp. 837, 840, ante, and R. v. Gardner, [1898] UKLawRpKQB 173; [1899] 1 Q.B. 150), is outside the present provisions, for it is, technically, no right of reply and had always to be exercised before the final speech for the defence (if any); cf. R. v. Sheriff (1903), 20 Cox C.C. 334, at p. 151.

Criminal Procedure Act 1865, s. 2. See p. 837, ante.
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2. Short title, commencement and extent

(1) This Act may be cited as the Criminal Procedure (Right of Reply) Act 1964.

(2) This Act shall come into operation at the time of expiration of a period of one month beginning with the day on which it was passed, but shall not apply to any trial at which the accused was arraigned before that time.

(3) This Act does not extend to Scotland or Northern Ireland.

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NOTE

Passed. The Act was passed, viz., received the Royal Assent on 10th June 1964.

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