A

BILL

ΤΟ

5

Repeal the Act 16 & 17 Victoria, c. 30.; and to make better Provision for the Prevention and Punishment of aggravated Assaults upon Women and Children, and for preventing Delay and Expense in the Administration of certain Parts of the Criminal Law.

W

HEREAS in the Session of Parliament holden in the Preamble. Sixteenth and Seventeenth Years of Her Majesty's Reign an Act was passed, intituled "An Act for the better Pre"vention and Punishment of aggravated Assaults upon Women and "Children, and for preventing Delay and Expense in the Adminis"tration of certain Parts of the Criminal Law:" And whereas the said Act has been found insufficient for the Protection of Women and Children from aggravated Assaults: Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the 10 Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, as follows:

I. That the said Act be and is hereby repealed.

Repeal of
Act.

Power of

summary

Conviction

Assaults

committed

and Male Children

under Four

teen Years of Age extended.

any

II. When any Person shall be charged before Two Justices of the punishing on Peace sitting at a Place where the Petty Sessions are usually held, or before any Magistrate of the Police Courts of the Metropolis sitting at any such Police Court, or before any Stipendiary Magison Females, trate elsewhere, with an Assault upon any Female whatever, or upon 5 Male Child whose Age shall not in the Opinion of such Justices or Police or Stipendiary Magistrates exceed Fourteen Years, either upon the Complaint of the Party aggrieved or otherwise, it shall be lawful for the said Justices or Police or Stipendiary Magistrate, if the Assault is of such an aggravated Nature that it cannot in their or his Opinion be 10 sufficiently punished under the Provisions of the Statute Ninth George the Fourth, Chapter Thirty-one, to proceed to hear and determine in a summary Way, and if they shall find the same to be proved, to convict the Person accused; and every Offender so convicted shall be liable to be imprisoned in the Common Gaol or House of Correction, with or with- 15. out Hard Labou., for a Period not exceeding Two Calendar Months, nor less than Fourteen Days and if a Male to be once privately whipped, in addition to such Imprisonment as aforesaid, such Whipping to be inflicted not sooner than Two clear Days from the Date of the Conviction nor later than within One clear Week of the Termination of 20 the said Term of Imprisonment as aforesaid, and, if the Magistrate or Magistrates shall so think fit, shall be bound to keep the Peace and be of good Behaviour for any Period not exceeding Sir Calendar Months from the Expiration of such Sentence; and such Conviction shall be a Bar to all future Proceedings, Civil or Criminal, for or in 25 respect of the same Assault; and no Person convicted under this Act shall be entitled to appeal against such Conviction to the General Quarter Sessions of the Peace, anything to the contrary in any Statute notwithstanding.

Court of
General or
Quarter Ses-

sions may,

upon Proof

III. Where any Recognizance to keep the Peace or to be of good 30 Behaviour is entered into by any Person, as Principal or Surety, before the Court of General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace of any County, Riding, Division, City, Borough, or Place, or before any of Conviction Justice or Justices of the Peace of any County, Riding, Division, and Notice to Parties, City, Borough, or Place, it shall be lawful for any such Court of 35 declare a General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace as aforesaid, upon AppliRecognizance to keep cations made to such Court, to declare such Recognizance to be the Peace or forfeited upon Proof of a Conviction of the Party bound by to be of good Behaviour such Recognizance of any Offence which is in Law a Breach of the Condition of the same; and upon further Proof that a Notice 40 in Writing, signed by the Person seeking to put such Recognizance in force, has, Seven clear Days before the Commencement of such Sessions, been personally served upon or left at the usual Place of Abode of the Party or each of the Parties (if more than One)

to be forfeited.

who

who entered into such Recognizances, that an Application will be made to the said General or Quarter Sessions that the said Recognizance shall be declared forfeited, and if such Recognizance shall be declared forfeited, all such Proceedings shall be had 5 thereon as in the Case of a Recognizance forfeited at such Court of General or Quarter Sessions, and all the Provisions of the Act of the Third Year of King George the Fourth, Chapter Forty-six, and of the Act of the Fourth Year of the said King, Chapter Thirty-seven, applicable to a Recognizance so forfeited at such Court, shall apply 10 to a Recognizance which shall, upon such Application and Proof as herein-before mentioned, be declared to be forfeited; and upon Notice in Writing of such intended Application to the said General or Quarter Sessions being given to any Justice or Justices before whom any such Recognizance shall have been taken, Four clear Days before 20 the Commencement of the said Sessions, the said Justice or Justices shall transmit the said Recognizance to the Clerk of the Peace of the County, Riding, Division, City, Borough, or Place within which the said Recognizance shall have been taken, with a Certificate that the said Recognizance is sent to him by reason of such last-mentioned Notice 25 having been so given as aforesaid.

committed

IV. No Person committed to Prison under any Warrant or Order Detention of One Justice of the Peace for or on account of not entering into of Persons Recognizances or finding Sureties to keep the Peace, or to be of good to Prison for Behaviour, shall be detained under such Warrant or Order for more not entering into Recog 30 than Twelve Calendar Months from the Time of such Commitment. nizance

limited.

meanor not

to be removed by

Certiorari,

except on

that a fair

V. And whereas by reason of the Establishment of a Court of Indictments Criminal Appeal the Removal of Indictments by Writ of Certiorari for Misdeis seldom necessary for the Decision of Questions of Law, but is nevertheless sometimes resorted to for Purposes of Expense and Delay: Be 35 it enacted, That no Indictment, except Indictments against Bodies Corporate not authorized to appear by Attorney in the Court in Affidavit which the Indictment is preferred, shall be removed into the Court of Trial cannot Queen's Bench, or into the Central Criminal Court, by Writ of Cer- be had. tiorari, either at the Instance of the Prosecutor or of the Defendant (other than the Attorney General acting on behalf of the Crown), unless it be made to appear to the Court from which the Writ is to issue, by the Party applying for the same, that a fair and impartial Trial of the Case cannot be had in the Court below, or that some Question of Law of more than usual Difficulty and Importance is likely to arise upon the Trial, or that a View of the Premises in respect whereof any Indictment is preferred, or a Special Jury, may be required for the satisfactory Trial of the same.

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