Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980/Schedule 3

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Section 46.

SCHEDULE 3
Corporations

1.—(1) A magistrates’ court may commit a corporation for trial by an order in writing empowering the prosecutor to prefer a bill of indictment in respect of the offence named in the order.

(2) An order under this paragraph shall not prohibit the inclusion in the bill of indictment of counts that under section 2 of the 1933 c. 36.Administration of Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1933 may be included in the bill in substitution for, or in addition to, counts charging the offence named in the order.

2. A representative may on behalf of a corporation—

(a) make a statement before examining justices in answer to the charge;

(b) consent to the corporation being tried summarily;

(c) enter a plea of guilty or not guilty on the trial by a magistrates’ court of an information.

3.—(1) Where a representative appears, any requirement of this Act that anything shall be done in the presence of the accused, or shall be read or said to the accused, shall be construed as a requirement that that thing shall be done in the presence of the representative or read or said to the representative.

(2) Where a representative does not appear, any such requirement, and any requirement that the consent of the accused shall be obtained for summary trial, shall not apply.

4.—(1) Notification or intimation for the purposes of subsections (2) and (3) of section 12 above may be given on behalf of a corporation by a director or the secretary of the corporation; and those subsections shall apply in relation to a notification or intimation purporting to be so given as they apply to a notification or intimation purporting to be given by an individual accused.

(2) In this paragraph “director”, in relation to a corporation which is established by or under any enactment for the purpose of carrying on under national ownership any industry or part of an industry or undertaking and whose affairs are managed by the members thereof, means a member of that corporation.

5. The provisions of this Act relating to committal to the Crown Court for sentence shall not apply to a corporation.

6. Subject to the preceding provisions of this Schedule, the provisions of this Act relating to the inquiry into, and trial of, indictable offences shall apply to a corporation as they apply to an adult.

7. Where a corporation and an individual who has attained the age of 17 are jointly charged before a magistrates’ court with an offence triable either way, the court shall not try either of the accused summarily unless each of them consents to be so tried.

8. Subsection (6) of section 33 of the 1925 c. 86.Criminal Justice Act 1925 shall apply to a representative for the purposes of this Schedule as it applies to a representative for the purposes of that section.