698
Amended sel af-1909.
Security for good behaviour.
No. 3.]
(1)
THE ORDINANCES OF HONGKONG: [A.D. 1890.
Recognizances, etc.
49. In every case punishable on summary conviction the Magistrate may, if he so thinks proper and whether the defendant is convicted or not, order the defendant to enter into a recognizance, with two sufficient sureties, for his good behaviour and in such sum and for such term as the Magistrate may think fit, so that such sum does not exceed two hundred dollars and such term does not exceed twelve months.
50.-(1.) The power of a Magistrate, on complaint of any person, to adjudge a person to enter into a recognizance and find sureties to keep the peace or to be of good behaviour towards such first-mentioned person shall be exercised by an order upon complaint, and the provisions of this Ordinance shall apply accordingly, and the complainant and defendant and witnesses may be called and examined and cross-examined, and the complainant and defendant shall be subject to costs, as in the case of any other complaint.
Exercise on complaint of power to bind over to keep the peace. 42 & 43 17. c. 49 s. 25.
R. v. Holloway 2 Dow PC; R. v. Baves TR.696 First Schedule: Form No. 28; Form No. 27.
Power to reduce or vary security. Ib. s. 26. First Schedule: Form No. 32.
(2.) The Magistrate may order the defendant, in default of compliance with such last-mentioned order, to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding six months.
51. Where a person has been committed to prison by a Magistrate for default in finding sureties, a Magistrate may, on application made to him in manner directed by the rules in the Second Schedule to this Ordinance by such person or by some one acting on his behalf, inquire into the case of the person so committed, and if, on new evidence produced to the Magistrate or proof of a change of circumstances, the Magistrate thinks, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, that it is just to do so, he may reduce the amount for which it is proposed the sureties or surety should be bound, or dispense with the sureties or surety, or otherwise deal with the case as he may think just.
Second Schedule. First Schedule. Form No. 33. Recognizance taken out of Court. Ib. s. 42. Second Schedule.
52. When a Magistrate has fixed, as respects any recognizance, the amount in which the principal and the sureties, if any, are to be bound, the recognizance, notwithstanding anything in this or any past Ordinance or statute, need not be entered into before such Magistrate, but may, subject to the rules in the Second Schedule to this Ordinance, be entered into by the parties before another Magistrate, or before the Magistrate's Clerk, or before a Superintendent or Inspector of Police or other officer of Police of equal or superior rank, or, where any of the parties is in prison, before the Superintendent thereof; and thereupon all the consequences of law shall ensue and the provisions of this Ordinance with respect to recognizances taken before a Magistrate shall apply as if the recognizance had been entered into before a Magistrate as heretofore by law required.
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