Indictments Act 1915
|
|
| Long title | An Act to amend the Law relating to Indictments in Criminal Cases, and matters incidental or similar thereto |
|---|---|
| Citation | 5 & 6 Geo 5. c.90 |
| Territorial extent | England and Wales |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 23 December 1915 |
| Commencement | 1 April 1916 |
| Other legislation | |
| Amended by |
Criminal Justice Administration Act 1956 Criminal Justice Act 1948 Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 Statute Law Revision Act 1927 |
|
Status: Amended
|
|
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Revised text of statute as amended | |
The Indictments Act 1915 (5 & 6 Geo 5. c.90) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made significant changes to the law relating to indictments. The law relating to indictments evolved during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and became lengthy, confusing and highly technical to the point where some barristers specialised entirely in drawing up indictments. During the nineteenth century several Acts were passed by Parliament to correct this problem, but none were entirely successful. In 1913 Lord Haldane created a committee to draw up a draft bill reforming the law of indictments, which became the Indictments Act 1915.
Coming into force on 1 April 1916, the Act established rules on how indictments are to be drafted, and provided methods to amend and alter faulty indictments in court. Most importantly it simplified the layout of indictments and provided a list of items it had to contain, such as "such particulars as may be necessary for giving reasonable information as to the nature of the charge." While the Act has been significantly amended over the years, several sections are still in force, and the indictment rules given form the basis of the Indictment Rules 1971 (S.I. 1971/1253) which replace the Indictment Rules 1915 (S.R. & O. 1915/1235).
An indictment is a document formally accusing an individual of a criminal offence. Indictments have been used in English law from at least 1362, but the system was mainly developed during the seventeenth and eighteenth century. During this period indictments became lengthy, confusing and highly technical, firstly because of the large number of new criminal offences created and secondly because of the back-and-forth between counsel for the defence and the prosecution, one attempting to spot loopholes in the indictment and the other attempting to close them. A slight misspelling on the indictment rendered it invalid, and all errors were taken in favour of the prisoner. An additional contributory factor was that the indictments were drafted by clerks of assize who were only paid once per set of indictments - if the indictment was not valid they had to write a new one for free, and they therefore had a vested interest in making them as detailed and complex as possible to avoid subtle flaws. By the turn of the twentieth century indictments were so complex that some barristers such as Archibald Bodkin had a practice specialising in writing them.
...
Wikipedia