Committal procedure

<h2 id="england">England</h2>
<p>On 28 May 2013 the committal procedure was abolished in England. As a result, the serious matters are sent straight to the Crown Court from a magistrates' court for a pre-trial hearing. There is no committal procedure to determine sufficiency of evidence. Instead, the defendant charged with the offence may make an application to the Crown Court to have the case dismissed for lack of evidence. The idea behind this reform was to get cases to trial more quickly and reduce the number of pre-trial hearings. However, it is questionable whether this has been achieved given the number of pre-trial hearings that are often required in the Crown Court.
</p><p>The first hearing in the Crown Court will be a Plea and Trial Preparation Hearing (PTPH), where a plea is taken and, if not guilty, a timetable for trial is set and directions given for service of further evidence, followed by the trial itself. There may be additional hearings in between (called 'mentions'). The PTPH was introduced on 5 January 2016<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> and replaced the previous procedure of having a separate initial preliminary hearing followed by a Plea and Case Management Hearing (PCMH) in an attempt to reduce the number of pre-trial hearings.
</p><p>In triable <a href="/facts/Either_way_offence/SP1yRRbL">either way offences</a>, the defendant's right to elect a jury trial remains unfettered.
</p>
<h2 id="notes-and-references">Notes and references</h2>
<ul><li>Clifford E M Chatterton and Philip K Brown. Committals for Trial to the Crown Court: The Law and Practice. Fourmat Publishing. London. 1988.</li>
<li>John Bowers. "Committal for trial". Practice Notes on Procedure in Courts. Chapter 8.3 at pages <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=neZIUubE-oUC&pg=PA81">81</a> to 84.</li>
<li>Peter Hungerford-Welch. "Committal for sentence". Criminal Procedure and Sentencing. Eighth Edition. Routledge. 2014. Chapter 5.13 at pages <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=upL8AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA112">112</a> to 116.</li>
<li>P J Hidden, "The Benefits of Committal Proceedings" (1990 to 1991) 2 Current Issues in Criminal Justice <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/cicj2&div=21&id=&page=">19</a></li>
<li>John B Bishop, "The Abolition of Committal Proceedings" (1990 to 1991) 2 Current Issues in Criminal Justice <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/cicj2&div=23&id=&page=">37</a></li>
<li>J A R Dowd, "Committal Reform: Radical or Evolutionary Change?" (1990 to 1991) 2 Current Issues in Criminal Justice <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/cicj2&div=20&id=&page=">10</a></li>
<li>John Koumarelas, "Committals: an optional extra?" (1989) 14 Legal Service Bulletin <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/alterlj14&div=82&id=&page=">279</a></li>
<li>Bronwyn Naylor, "Justiciability of Decisions in the Criminal Process: Review of Committal Proceedings in the Federal Court" (1990) 19 Federal Law Review <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/fedlr19&div=25&id=&page=">352</a></li>
<li>"Committal Proceedings Misconception" (1979) 43 Journal of Criminal Law <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/jcriml43&div=35&id=&page=">163</a></li>
<li>"The Floodgates of Judicial Review: Once More unto the Breach" (1993) 44 Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/nilq44&div=33&id=&page=">233</a> (Autumn 1993)</li>
<li>R E Salhany, "Review of Committal for Trial" (1965 to 1966) 8 Criminal Law Quarterly <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/clwqrty8">31</a></li>
<li>Peter J Connelly, "Certiorari and Committals for Trial" (1980 to 1981) 23 Criminal Law Quarterly <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/clwqrty23&div=32&id=&page=">369</a></li>
<li>"Committal for Trial or Sentence?" (1984) 148 Justice of the Peace <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/cljw148&div=34&id=&page=">497</a> (11 August 1984)</li>
<li>Bruce M Haines, "Committals and Certiorari" (1965 to 1966) 8 Criminal Law Quarterly <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/clwqrty8&div=31&id=&page=">141</a></li>
<li>"Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000: Committal for Sentencing" (2012) 76 Journal of Criminal Law <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/jcriml76&div=10&id=&page=">12</a></li>
<li>"Committals for Sentence under Ss. 41 and 56 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1967" (1970) 34 Journal of Criminal Law <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/jcriml34&div=33&id=&page=">200</a></li>
<li>"From Committal Proceedings to Transfer for Trial" (1995) <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=qH8wAQAAIAAJ">159</a> Justice of the Peace & Local Government Law 379 (10 June 1995)</li>
<li>Marjorie Jones, "Publicity for Committal Proceedings" in "As I see it" (1980) <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=o4QwAQAAIAAJ">144</a> Justice of the Peace 269 (3 May 1980)</li>
<li>"Publicity for Committal Proceedings" in "Notes of the Year" (1949) <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ZdPtfUGHyb0C">9</a> The Howard Journal 7</li>
<li>"Effect of Lapse of Time on Committal Proceedings" (1991) <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=kKBJAQAAIAAJ">55</a> The Journal of Criminal Law 295</li>
<li>"Committal Proceedings - Adversarial or Inquisitorial?" (1995) <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=54pJAQAAIAAJ">59</a> The Journal of Criminal Law 111</li>
<li>"Committal for Trial by Quarter Sessions" in "General Intelligence" (1936) <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=g_wwAQAAIAAJ">181</a> The Law Times 473 (13 June 1936)</li></ul>

<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul>
<li>Law portal</li></ul>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Civil_confinement/SPDCYBWD">Civil confinement</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Warrant_of_committal/zk2sqIMu">Warrant of committal</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>For example, sections 101B and 101C(b)(iii) of the Justices Act, 1902 (aka the Justices Act, 1902-1976), as inserted by section 6 of the Justices Act Amendment Act 1976 of Western Australia, provided that a person could be committed for trial without a preliminary hearing if he said that he that he did not want a preliminary hearing. <a href="/w/index.php?title=Justices_Act,_1902&action=edit&redlink=1" target="_blank">/w/index.php?title=Justices_Act,_1902&action=edit&redlink=1</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>For example, Magistrates Court Act, 1989 (Victoria) <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/criminal/docs/october-2015/cm007-eng.pdf [bare URL PDF] <a href="https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/criminal/docs/october-2015/cm007-eng.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/criminal/docs/october-2015/cm007-eng.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Committal procedure open-in-new

Committal procedure