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SECTION IV.
OUTSTANDING CHARGES.
General.
1. Since the decision of the Court of Criminal Appeal in R. v Syres [(1908), 1 C.A.R. 172], it has been a common practice for Courts of Assize and Courts of Quarter Sessions, after a prisoner has pleaded guilty or has been found guilty of the charge or charges in the indictment, to take into consideration in passing sentence for the offence or offences of which the prisoner has been convicted "outstand- ing charges," whether arising in the same or different jurisdictions, provided that the prisoner admits them and consents to their being so dealt with.
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2. This course should not as a rule be taken by Courts of Summary Jurisdiction. It is generally undesirable that such Courts should take "outstanding charges into consideration, and it is preferable that where there are a number of indictable charges against a prisoner, he should be committed for trial. Cases, however, may sometimes occur where a Court of Summary Jurisdiction may, in the Secretary of State's opinion, properly take "outstanding charges into consideration, as, for example, where a vagrant has obtained food and lodgings by false pretences in several different places: but such cases should be regarded as exceptions to the general rule.
3. Only criminal charges can properly, in the Secretary of State's opinion, be taken into consideration; and not such cases as arise under the Bastardy or Summary Jurisdiction (Married Women) Acts. In the last-mentioned cases the defendant is in debt to a private person; imprisonment in default of payment is the ultimate means which the complainant has of enforcing payment, and she should not be deprived of her legal remedy except with her express consent.
4. When a prisoner has been apprehended on an indictable charge and it is thought that there may be other criminal charges against him than that on which he has been apprehended, inquiry should, if possible, be made by the Police.
5. If it is ascertained that there are several charges in respect of offences committed in different jurisdictions, the Justices should generally be asked to commit the prisoner for trial, in order that a Court of Assize or Quarter Sessions may (if it thinks proper) take these "outstanding charges" into consideration and pass a sentence sufficient to cover them. If there are several charges in respect of offences committed in the jurisdiction of the Justices, the Justices should generally be asked either to hear or determine them, or so many of them as is considered necessary, or to commit the prisoner for trial in order that the Court of trial may be able to take all the charges into consideration in an adequate sentence.
6. When there are other criminal charges against a prisoner than those included in the indictment, the Court of trial should be informed of them after the prisoner has pleaded guilty or been found guilty by the jury.
7. For guidance as to the procedure to be followed in informing the Court of trial of outstanding charges ", reference may be made to the observations of the Lord Chief Justice in the Court of Criminal Appeal in the case of R. v. Hicks [(1924) 18 C.A.R, 11], as follows:- "In this case, and in two others in the list to-day, it is not easy to see what other charges were taken into account by the Court below when it passed sentence. There is no note here on the indictment. The most convenient procedure is for the officer in charge of the case to make a list of the places, dates and offences alleged with which the Court of trial is asked to deal, and to state also on which charges warrants have been issued. That list should be filed in the Court below and in this Court."
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8. The police officer in charge of a case should accordingly have in his possession at the trial a list of the outstanding charges " in duplicate. One copy of the list should be handed to the Court after the prisoner's conviction, the other copy should be retained by the officer, who should note upon it any cases which the Court may mention as having been taken into consideration in the sentence, The Police should be careful to inform other forces whose cases have been mentioned what is the result of the proceedings and whether their cases were taken into consideration in the sentence or not, and whether any observations were made by the Court with reference to them.
9. The officer should also have in his possession any warrants that may have been issued in respect of the "outstanding charges.”
10. It will generally be convenient for the charges in the list to be arranged in order of the dates on which the alleged offences were committed, and the list should contain in respect of each charge the particulars mentioned in paragraph 7 above.
11. The list need not be confined to charges of a similar nature to those preferred in the indictment. When, however, a charge of a different character from the others is included in the list, the attention of the Court should be called to the fact.
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12. In the case of Alexander McLean [(1910) 6 C.A.R. 26] the Court of Criminal Appeal intimated that the Judge should be satisfied that the prosecutors in the " outstanding cases consent to the charges in which they are concerned being taken into consideration, and that he should bear in mind that it may be desirable in the public interest that an "outstanding charge" should be tried in the county in which it originated. The Police, however, should not object to an outstanding charge” being taken into consideration unless they can show special cause for their objection, and the
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