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14 VICTORIÆ, No. XLIII.

An Act to adopt and apply certain Acts of Parliament, passed for facilitating the performance of the duties of Justices of the Peace, and for protecting them from vexatious actions; and to prevent persons convicted of offences from taking undue advantage of mere defects or errors in form. [Assented to, 2nd October, 1850.]

WE

cap. 42, 43, and

44.

HEREAS three Acts of Parlia- Preamble. ment were passed in the eleventh and twelfth years of Her Majesty's Reign, of which one is intituled, “An 11 and 12 Viet. "Act to facilitate the performance of the "duties of Justices of the Peace out of "Sessions within England and Wales, "with respect to persons charged with indictable offences ;" and the second is intituled, "An Act to facilitate the performance of the duties of Justices of the "Peace out of Sessions, within England "and Wales, with respect to summary "convictions and orders;" and the other is intituled, "An Act to protect Justices

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of the Peace from vexatious actions, for "acts done by them in execution of their

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14 Vict. No. 43.

Extension of those Acts.

ed accordingly.

office" And whereas the adoption of those several Acts in and for the Colony of New South Wales, would not only tend greatly to the ease of Magistrates in the said Colony, but to the advancement of Justice, in respect of all proceedings by and before them out of Said Acts adopt- Sessions: Be it therefore enacted, by His Excellency the Governor of New South Wales, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, That from and after the first day of the month of December next, the said three Acts of Parliament, and the several provisions therein contained respectively, shall (so far as the said provisions can be applied) be in force and take effect in New South Wales and its Dependencies, and be applied and enforced in the administration of Justice accordingly; and from and after that date, all Statutes, and parts of Statutes, which by the said recited Acts respectively are repealed in England, and all enactments of or to the like tenor and effect, made and passed in New South Wales, shall in New South Wales, and its Dependencies, be and the same are hereby repealed.

Transmission of

2. Provided always and be it enacted, depositions, &c. That all informations, depositions, statements, and recognizances, which by the said recited Acts or any of them, are

required to be delivered to the officer of 14 Vict. No. 43. the Court in which the trial is to be had, shall, in this Colony, be transmitted by the Justice or Justices, as soon as possible after the conclusion of the case before him or them, to the Attorney General, or (in cases where he shall so require) to the Solicitor General; or, in Port Phillip, to the Crown Prosecutor; and the said Attorney General, Solicitor General, and Crown Prosecutor, shall respectively, after such transmission, and before the day of trial, have and be subject to the same duties and liabilities, in respect of the said several documents, upon a Certiorari directed to them respectively; or upon a rule or order directed to them in lieu of that writ, as the Justice or Justices would have had and been subject to, upon a Certiorari to him or them, if such documents had not been so transmitted; and the said officers, respectively, or the officer in any case prosecuting for them respectively, shall at any time after the opening of the Court, at the sittings at which the trial is to be had, deliver the said several documents, or any of them, to the proper officer of the Court, if and when the presiding Judge thereat shall so direct.

3. And be it enacted, That in every Rate per folio for case where by the said Acts or any of copies of deposithem, a party would be entitled to copies

tions.

14 Vict. No. 1. of the depositions if committed or held to bail by any Justice or Justices, he shall be entitled to the like copies when committed by any Coroner; and that in every case where any witnesses or witness shall have been cross-examined or called and examined, by or on behalf of the party committed or held to bail, he shall in like manner be entitled to copies of the evidence given on such crossexamination, or examination, and the rate per folio which shall be payable to the Clerk of the Justice or Justices, or Coroner, before transmission of the said documents, or to the Clerk of the Attorney General, Crown Prosecutor, or Crown Solicitor, as the case may be, after their transmission, for copies of the depositions shall be such (not exceeding four-pence per folio,) as the Judges of the Supreme Court shall, from time to time, fix and determine.

Power of indorsing warrants.

4. And be it enacted, That the same power of indorsing warrants shall exist in New South Wales, with respect to offenders out of the jurisdiction of the Justice or Justices granting the same, whether in this Colony or not; and every such warrant when indorsed, shall have the same validity in this Colony, to the extent of the jurisdiction of the indorsing Justice, and may be acted on in the like manner, as is provided by the first men

tioned of the said recited Acts, with res- 14 Vict. No. 43. pect to warrants granted in England and indorsed by virtue of the same Act in Ireland, and the converse.

deemed Justices

unless otherwise

5. And be it enacted, That in all cases Justices to be where, after the commencement of this for the Colony. Act, any Justice shall be described as a indicated. Justice of the Peace for the Colony of New South Wales, such description shall be taken to mean that he is a Justice of the Peace for the Colony generally, but not for any such City or Town, unless words indicating that he is a Justice also for such City or Town be added; and that in all cases every act done or purporting to have been done by any Justice of the Peace, either for the Colony, or for Port Phillip, or for any such City or Town, shall be taken to have been within his jurisdiction, without an allegation to that effect, until the contrary be shewn.

Magistrates.

6. And be it enacted, That for the pur- Powers of Police poses of every enactment in the said recited Acts, or any of them, giving certain special powers to Police and Stipendiary Magistrates, every Police Magistrate in this Colony and its Dependencies shall be taken to be included in such enactment.

forms.

7. And be it declared and enacted, Adaptation of That the several forms annexed to the two first recited Acts, or any of them, may be varied, for the purpose of adapt

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