Criminal Procedure Act 1851

Criminal Procedure Act 1851 ^[a]

Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act for further improving the Administration of Criminal Justice.
Citation	14 & 15 Vict. c. 100
Territorial extent	England and Wales Scotland [b]
Dates
Royal assent	7 August 1851
Commencement	1 September 1851 [c]
Repealed	2 May 1986
Other legislation
Amends	Pleading in Misdemeanor Act 1819 Offences against the Person Act 1837
Amended by	Criminal Statutes Repeal Act 1861 Statute Law Revision Act 1875 Perjury Act 1911 Larceny Act 1916 Criminal Law Act 1967 Judicature (Northern Ireland) Act 1978
Repealed by	Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1986
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended

The Criminal Procedure Act 1851 ^[a] (14 & 15 Vict. c. 100) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was drafted by Charles Sprengel Greaves. ^[1] Stephen said that compared to earlier legislation on defects in indictments, the Criminal Procedure Act 1851 "went further in the way of removing technicalities, but it did so by an enumeration of them, so technical and minute, that no one could possibly understand it who had not first acquainted himself with all the technicalities which it was meant to abolish." ^[2]

Subsequent developments

Sections 4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and so much of section 5 "as relates to forging or uttering any Instrument", and so much of section 29 "as relates to any indecent Assault, or any Assault occasioning actual bodily Harm or any Attempt to have carnal Knowledge of a Girl under Twelve Years of Age" were repealed by section 1 of, and the schedule to, the Criminal Statutes Repeal Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 95).

In section 1 of the act, the words "both with respect to the liability of witnesses to be prosecuted for perjury and otherwise", and sections 19–22 of the act, were repealed by section 17 of, and the schedule to, the Perjury Act 1911 (1 & 2 Geo. 5. c. 6).

In section 5 of the act, so far as it related to Ireland, the words "stealing, "embezzling," and the words "or for obtaining by false pretences" and in section 18 of the act, the words from "and in cases" to the end of the section, were repealed by the schedule to the Larceny Act 1916 (6 & 7 Geo. 5. c. 50).

In section 3 of the act, the word "information", the words "and presentment," and the words from "and the terms" to "a presentment", and sections 9 and 12 of the act, were repealed by part III of schedule 3 to the Criminal Law Act 1967.

Section 27 of the act, so far as it applied to Northern Ireland, was repealed by part I of schedule 7 to the Judicature (Northern Ireland) Act 1978.

The whole act was repealed by section 1(1) of, and the part XXX of schedule 1 to, the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1986.

See also

• Criminal Procedure Act

Notes

1. The citation of this act by this short title was authorised by section 1 of, and the first schedule to, the Short Titles Act 1896. Due to the repeal of those provisions it is now authorised by section 19(2) of the Interpretation Act 1978.
2. Section 32.
3. Section 21.

References

• Halsbury's Statutes,
• Charles Sprengel Greaves. Lord Campbell's Acts, for the Further Improving the Administration of Criminal Justice, and the Better Prevention of Offences. Late W Benning & Co. Fleet Street, London. 1851. Pages 1 to 35.
• Robert Richard Pearce. The New Law of Indictments; comprising Lord Campbell's Administration of Criminal Justice Improvement Act; An Act for the Better Prevention of Offences; and An Act to Amend the Law Relating to the Expenses of Prosecutions, &c. S Sweet, and Stevens & Norton. London. 1851. Pages 19 to 44.
• William Hanbury Aggs. Chitty's Statutes of Practical Utility. Sixth Edition. Sweet and Maxwell. Stevens and Sons. Chancery Lane, London. 1912. Volume 3. Title "Criminal Law". Page 258 et seq.
• John Mounteney Lely. "The Criminal Procedure Act, 1851". The Statutes of Practical Utility. (Chitty's Statutes). Fifth Edition. Sweet and Maxwell. Stevens and Sons. London. 1894. Volume 3. Title "Criminal Law". Pages 78 to 85.
• John Mounteney Lely. Chitty's Collection of Statutes of Practical Utility. Fourth Edition. Henry Sweet. Stevens and Sons. Chancery Lane, London. 1880. Volume 2. Title "Criminal Law". Pages 262 to 267.
• The Statutes: Third Revised Edition. HMSO. London. 1950. Volume 6. Page 112 et seq.
• The Statutes: Second Revised Edition. Printed under the authority of HMSO. London. 1894. Volume 8. Pages 1002 to 1008.
• The Statutes: Revised Edition. London. 1877. Volume 11. Pages 260 to 265.
• William Paterson (ed). "Administration of Criminal Justice Improvement Act". The Practical Statutes of the Session 1851. John Crockford. Essex Street, Strand, London. 1851. Pages 256 to 271.
• A Collection of the Public General Statutes passed in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Year of the Reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, 1851. Queen's Printer. London. 1851. Page 831 et seq.

1. (1851) 15 Law Magazine (New Series) 226; (1851) 15 Jurist 361; (1948) 63 British Columbia Reports 49 ; (1946) 86 Canadian Criminal Cases Annotated 340 ; Law Reform Commission of Canada, The Charge Document in Criminal Cases (1987) p 8 .
2. Stephen, J F. History of the Criminal Law of England. 1883. Volume 1. Page 285.

External links

• The Criminal Procedure Act 1851, as amended from the Irish Statute Book.
• British Public Statutes Affected for 1851. Irish Statute Book.
• Northern Irish Legislation: Criminal Procedure Act 1851. BAILII.