COSTS IN CRIMINAL CASES ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1968 - SECT 3 Costs of defence in cases of acquittal, dismissal or discharge.

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COSTS IN CRIMINAL CASES ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1968 - SECT 3

Costs of defence in cases of acquittal, dismissal or discharge.

3.(1) Subject to the provisions of this section and of section 6, any court
before which a person is prosecuted or tried (including a magistrates' court
conducting the preliminary investigation of an indictable offence), if

(a)the accused is acquitted; or

(b)the charge is dismissed, withdrawn or struck out; or

(c)in the case of a magistrates' court conducting the preliminary
investigation of an indictable offence, the accused is discharged;

(i)where the proceedings have been instituted by or on behalf of, or taken
over by, the Attorney General, or have been instituted by a constable, or by
or on behalf of the Ministry, order the Ministry; and

(ii)in any other case, order the prosecutor;

(2) Where a person committed for trial is not subsequently tried, the court to
which he is committed shall have the same power to order payment of costs
under this Act as if the accused had been tried and acquitted.

(3) The costs of the defence mentioned in subsection (1) shall, subject to
subsection (4) and to rules pursuant to section 7, be such sums as appear to
the court reasonably sufficient to compensate the accused for the expenses
properly incurred by him in carrying on the defence (including, in the case of
a trial, any proceedings preliminary or incidental to such trial) and to
compensate any witness for the defence for the expense, trouble or loss of
time properly incurred in, or incidental to, his attendance to give evidence.

(4) Where an appellant is retried by virtue of an order under [section 6 of
the Criminal Appeal (Northern Ireland) Act 1980] and is acquitted on the
retrial, the costs of the defence mentioned in subsection (1) shall include

(a)any costs which could have been ordered to be paid under this section by
the court by which he was originally tried if he had been acquitted at the
original trial; and

(b)if no order was made under section 4(2) of this Act or under [section 41(2)
of the Criminal Appeal (Northern Ireland) Act 1980] in respect of his expenses
on appeal, any sums for the payment of which such an order could have been
made.

(5) Notwithstanding that the court makes no order under subsection (1) for the
payment of the costs of the defence, it may, subject to section 6, order the
payment by the Ministry or the prosecutor, as the case may require, of such
sums as, subject to rules made pursuant to section 7, appear to the court
reasonably sufficient to compensate any witness for the defence for the
expense, trouble or loss of time properly incurred in, or incidental to, his
attendance to give evidence.

(6) Unless the court otherwise directs, no sum shall be payable in pursuance
of an order under this section to, or in respect of, any witness for the
defence who is a witness to character only.

(7) Where a court orders, under this section, payment of the costs of the
defence, the order shall be enforceable

(a)where the prosecutor is a private prosecutor

(i)if the court is a magistrates' court, in the same manner as an order made
by a magistrates' court in respect of a civil debt; or

Sub-para.(ii) rep. by 1978 c.23 s.122(2) sch.7 Pt.II

<(iii)in any other case, in the same manner as an order for the payment of costs made by the High Court in a civil case; or


(b)if the prosecutor is not a private prosecutor, in the same manner as is
provided by section 25 of the Crown Proceedings Act 1947 for the payment of
costs in civil proceedings.

(8) In this section, "witness" means a person properly attending to give
evidence, whether or not he gives evidence; and a person called to give
evidence at the instance of the court may, whether or not he is a witness for
the defence, be made the subject of an order under subsection (5).

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Northern Irish Legislation

COSTS IN CRIMINAL CASES ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1968 - SECT 3