RSC ORDER 79 - CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS

RSC ORDER 79 CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS

Contents of this Order
Title	Number
Estreat of recognizances	Rule 8
Bail	Rule 9

Estreat of recognizances

Rule 8

(1) No recognizance acknowledged in or removed into the Queen’s Bench Division shall be estreated without the order of a judge.

(2) Every application to estreat a recognizance in the Queen’s Bench Division must be made by claim form and will be heard by a judge and must be supported by a witness statement or affidavit showing in what manner the breach has been committed and proving that the claim form was duly served.

(2A) When it issues the claim form the court will fix a date for the hearing of the application.

(3) A claim form under this rule must be served at least 2 clear days before the day named therein for the hearing.

(4) On the hearing of the application the judge may, and if requested by any party shall, direct any issue of fact in dispute to be tried by a jury.

(5) If it appears to the judge that a default has been made in performing the conditions of the recognizance, the judge may order the recognizance to be estreated.

Bail

Rule 9

(1) Subject to the provisions of this rule, every application to the High Court in respect of bail in any criminal proceeding –

(a) where the defendant is in custody, must be made by claim form to a judge to show cause why the defendant should not be granted bail;

(b) where the defendant has been admitted to bail, must be made by claim form to a judge to show cause why the variation in the arrangements for bail proposed by the applicant should not be made.

(2) Subject to paragraph (5), the claim form (in Form No.97 or 97A in Practice Direction 4) must, at least 24 hours before the day named therein for the hearing, be served –

(a) where the application was made by the defendant, on the prosecutor and on the Director of Public Prosecutions, if the prosecution is being carried on by him;

(b) where the application was made by the prosecutor or a constable under section 3(8) of the Bail Act 1976¹, on the defendant.

(3) Subject to paragraph (5), every application must be supported by witness statement or affidavit.

(4) Where a defendant in custody who desires to apply for bail is unable through lack of means to instruct a solicitor, he may give notice in writing to the court stating his desire to apply for bail and requesting that the Official Solicitor shall act for him in the application, and the court may assign the Official Solicitor to act for the applicant accordingly.

(5) Where the Official Solicitor has been so assigned the court may dispense with the requirements of paragraphs (1) to (3) and deal with the application in a summary manner.

(6) Where the court grants the defendant bail, the order must be in Form No. 98 in Practice Direction 4 and a copy of the order shall be transmitted forthwith –

(a) where the proceedings in respect of the defendant have been transferred to the Crown Court for trial or where the defendant has been committed to the Crown Court to be sentenced or otherwise dealt with, to the appropriate officer of the Crown Court;

(b) in any other case, to the justices' chief executive for the court which committed the defendant.

(6A) The recognizance of any surety required as a condition of bail granted as aforesaid may, where the defendant is in a prison or other place of detention, be entered into before the governor or keeper of the prison or place as well as before the persons specified in section 8(4) of the Bail Act 1976.

(6B) Where under section 3(5) or (6) of the Bail Act 1976² the court imposes a requirement to be complied with before a person’s release on bail, it may give directions as to the manner in which and the person or persons before whom the requirement may be complied with.

(7) A person who in pursuance of an order for the grant of bail made by the court under this rule proposes to enter into a recognizance or give security must, unless the court otherwise directs, give notice (in Form No.100 in Practice Direction 4) to the prosecutor at least 24 hours before he enters into the recognizance or complies with the requirements as aforesaid.

(8) Where in pursuance of such an order as aforesaid a recognizance is entered into or requirement complied with before any person, it shall be the duty of that person to cause the recognizance or, as the case may be, a statement of the requirement complied with to be transmitted forthwith –

(b) in any other case, to the justices' chief executive for the court which committed the defendant,

and a copy of such recognizance or statement shall at the same time be sent to the governor or keeper of the prison or other place of detention in which the defendant is detained, unless the recognizance was entered into or the requirement complied with before such governor or keeper.

(10) An order varying the arrangements under which the defendant has been granted bail shall be in Form 98A in Practice Direction 4 and a copy of the order shall be transmitted forthwith –

(b) in any other case, to the justices' chief executive for the court which committed the defendant.

(11) Where in pursuance of an order of the High Court or the Crown Court a person is released on bail in any criminal proceeding pending the determination of an appeal to the High Court or the Supreme Court or an application for a quashing order, then, upon the abandonment of the appeal or application, or upon the decision of the High Court or the Supreme Court being given, any justice (being a justice acting for the same petty sessions area as the magistrates’ court by which that person was convicted or sentenced) may issue process for enforcing the decision in respect of which such appeal or application was brought or, as the case may be, the decision of the High Court or the Supreme Court.

(12) If an applicant to the High Court in any criminal proceedings is refused bail, the applicant shall not be entitled to make a fresh application for bail to any other judge or to a Divisional Court.

(13) The record required by section 5 of the Bail Act 1976³ to be made by the High Court shall be made by including in the file relating to the case in question a copy of the relevant order of the Court and shall contain the particulars set out in Form No.98 or 98A in Practice Direction 4, whichever is appropriate, except that in the case of a decision to withhold bail the record shall be made by inserting a statement of the decision on the court’s copy of the relevant claim form and including it in the file relating to the case in question.

(14) In the case of a person whose return or surrender is sought under the Extradition Act 1989⁴, this rule shall apply as if references to the defendant were references to that person and references to the prosecutor were references to the state seeking the return or surrender of that person.

(15) In the case of a prosecutor’s appeal to the High Court against the grant of bail under section 1(1A) or (1B) of the Bail (Amendment) Act 1993⁵ (“the 1993 Act”)—

(a) the appeal proceedings are to be commenced by the prosecutor filing a copy of the written notice of appeal required by section 1(5)⁶ of the 1993 Act in the High Court; and

(b) paragraphs (1) to (14) do not apply to such appeals.

Footnotes

1. 1976 c.63; section 3(8) was amended by the Criminal Law Act 1977 (c.45), section 65(4), Schedule 12.

2. 1976 c.63; section 3(6) was amended by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (c.33), sections 27(2), 168(3), Schedule 11.

3. 1976 c.63; section 5 was amended by the Criminal Justice Act 1982 (c.48), section 60; and by the Criminal Law Act 1977 (c.45), section 65(4), Schedule 12; and by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (c.33), section 27(4), Schedule 3, paragraph 1.

4. 1989 c.33.

5.1993 c.26. Section 1(1A) was inserted by the Extradition Act 2003 (c.41) section 200 and amended by the Police and Justice Act 2006 (c.48) section 42, Schedule 13 Part 2 paragraph 28. Section 1(1B) was inserted by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (c.10) section 90, Schedule 11, paragraph 32.
6. 1993 c. 26. Section 1(5) was amended by the Extradition Act 2003, section 200.