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REHABILITATION OF OFFENDERS (NORTHERN IRELAND) ORDER 1978 - LONG TITLE



[20th December 1978]N Title and commencement A> 1. This Order may be cited as
the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 . . .
Commencement . . . N Interpretation
[{2}or, <1979 c.37   in any proceedings arising out of any such decision of the Bank of England as is referred to in section 11(1) of the Banking Act 1979|, including proceedings on appeal to any court.] B>(3) If at any stage in any proceedings before a judicial authority in Northern Ireland (not being proceedings  to which, by virtue of paragraph (2) or of any  order for the time being in force under paragraph (4), Article 5(1) has no application, or proceedings to which Article 9 applies) the authority is satisfied, in the light of any considerations which appear to it to be relevant (including any evidence which has been or may thereafter be put before it), that justice cannot be done in the case except by admitting or requiring evidence relating  to a person's spent convictions or to circumstances ancillary thereto, that  authority may admit or, as the case may be, require the evidence in question notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (1) of Article 5, and may determine any issue to which the evidence relates in disregard, so far as necessary, of those provisions. B>(4) The Secretary of State may by order exclude the application of Article 5(1) in relation to any proceedings specified in the order (other than proceedings to which Article 9 applies) to such extent and for such purposes as may be so  specified. B>(5) No order made by a court with respect to any person otherwise than on a conviction shall be included in any list or statement of that person's previous convictions given or made to any court which is considering how to deal with him in respect of any offence. B Defamation actions  A> 9.  (1) This Article applies to any action for libel or slander begun after the commencement of this Article by a rehabilitated person and founded upon the publication of any matter imputing that the plaintiff has committed or been charged with or prosecuted for or convicted of or sentenced for an offence which was the subject of a spent conviction. B>(2) Nothing in Article 5(1) shall affect an action to which this Article applies where the publication complained of took place before the conviction in question became spent, and the following provisions of this Article shall not apply in any such case. B>(3) Subject to paragraphs (5) and (6), nothing in Article 5(1) shall prevent the defendant in an action to which this Article applies from relying on any defence of justification or fair comment or of absolute or qualified privilege which is available to him, or restrict the matters he may establish in support of any such defence. B>(4) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (3), where in any such action malice is alleged against a defendant who is relying on a defence of qualified privilege, nothing in Article 5(1) shall restrict the matters he may establish in rebuttal of the allegation. B>(5) A defendant in any such action shall not by virtue of paragraph (3) be entitled to rely upon the defence of justification if the publication is proved to have been made with malice. <1888 c.64 $$#


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© 1978 Crown Copyright

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