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The Magistrates' Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1981
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Changes and effects yet to be applied to Article 33:
- Instrument am (prosp) by S.I. 1994/2795 (N.I.) arts.3(4) 25
- Instrument am (prosp) by S.I. 1994/2795 (N.I.) art.3(5) Sch.1
- Instrument am (prosp) by S.I. 1994/2795 (N.I.) art.5(2)
- Instrument mod (prosp) by 1994 c. 33 s. 91(3)
- Instrument revoked by 1998 c. 41 s.74(1) (3) Sch.12 para.5 Sch.14 Pt.I
Changes and effects yet to be applied to the whole Order associated Parts and Chapters:
- Act amended by 1996 c. 25 s.79 Sch.4 para 30
- Act amended by 1996 c. 25 s.79 Sch.4 para 30
- Order applied by S.R. 2007/199 reg. 19(6)
- Order applied (with modifications) by S.I. 2018/1125 reg. 8 (This amendment not applied to legislation.gov.uk. S.I. 2018/1125, reg. 8 omitted (31.12.2020) by virtue of Private International Law (Implementation of Agreements) Act 2020 (c. 24), s. 4(3), Sch. 5 para. 4(4))
- Order power to modify conferred by 2015 c. 9 (N.I.) s. 24(5)(a) (see s 24(6))
Whole provisions yet to be inserted into this Order (including any effects on those provisions):
- Sch.6 Pt.I paras.18 19 revoked by 1995 c. 21 s. 314(1) Sch.12 (Amendment could not be applied. The relevant affected text is not available on legislation.gov)
- Sch.6 Pt.I para.5 revoked by S.I. 1995/756 art.15 Sch.
- Sch. 6 para. 128-130 repealed by 2011 c. 15 (N.I.) Sch. 3 Pt. 2 (Amendment could not be applied. The relevant affected text is not available on legislation.gov)
- Sch. 6 para. 125 repealed by 2011 c. 16 (N.I.) Sch. 5 (Amendment could not be applied. The relevant affected text is not available on legislation.gov)
- Sch. 6 Pt. 3 para. 170 repealed by S.I. 2007/916 (N.I.) Sch. 8 Pt. 1 (Amendment could not be applied. The relevant affected text is not available on legislation.gov)
- Sch. 6 para. 144 repealed by 2006 c. 48 Sch. 15 Pt. 4 (Amendment could not be applied. The relevant affected text is not available on legislation.gov)
- Sch. 6 para. 21 repealed by 2013 c. 22 Sch. 11 para. 210 (Amendment could not be applied. The relevant affected text is not available on legislation.gov)
- Sch. 6 para. 25 repealed by 2013 c. 22 Sch. 11 para. 210 (Amendment could not be applied. The relevant affected text is not available on legislation.gov)
- art. 29A excluded by 1975 c. 59, s. 4(3) (as substituted) by 2015 c. 9 (N.I.) s. 7(6)
- art. 29A inserted by 2015 c. 9 (N.I.) s. 7(2)
- art. 34(1A)-(1E) inserted by 2015 c. 9 (N.I.) s. 8(2)
- art. 140(2ZA) inserted by 2016 c. 18 (N.I.) Sch. 10 para. 16
Requirements as to written statementsN.I.
33.—(1) A magistrates' court conducting a preliminary inquiry may admit the statement of the evidence to be given by a witness F1... if the following conditions are complied with, that is to say—
(a)the statement shall be in writing,
(b)the statement shall purport to be signed by the person who made it,
(c)the statement shall contain a declaration by that person to the effect that—
(i)it is true to the best of his knowledge and belief, and
(ii)he made the statement knowing that, if it were tendered in evidence, whether at a preliminary inquiry or at the trial of the accused, he would be liable to prosecution if he wilfully said in it anything which he knew to be false or did not believe to be true,
which declaration shall be endorsed with the signature of the person who recorded the statement, or to whom the statement was delivered by the maker of the statement for the purposes of the proceedings,
(d)none of the parties objects to the statement being admitted in evidence upon a ground which would constitute a valid objection to oral evidence to the like effect as the contents of the statement,
(e)if the statement is made by a person under the age of twenty-one, his age shall be set forth in the statement, and
(f)if it is made by a person who cannot read, it shall be read to him before he signs it and shall be accompanied by a declaration by the person who so read the statement to the effect that it was so read and that after it was so read the maker of the statement assented to it.
(2) Any document or object referred to as an exhibit and identified in a written statement tendered in evidence under this Article shall be treated as if it had been produced as an exhibit and identified in court by the maker of the statement.
(3) Nothing in this Article shall prevent the giving in evidence of any confession, or other statement, made at any time by the accused which is admissible in law against him.
F1Words in art. 33(1) repealed (17.10.2022) by Criminal Justice (Committal Reform) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 (c. 4), s. 5(2), Sch. para. 8(3)(c); S.R. 2022/221, art. 2(d)
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