Part 4: National jurisdiction for first callings from custody, etc.Ability to take first calling in any sheriff court and then maintain proceedings
258.Paragraph 16 provides that, where a person appears in court for the first time from custody in criminal proceedings, that calling of the case may be taken in any sheriff court in Scotland and may be dealt with in that court by a sheriff of any sheriffdom. Paragraph 18 goes on to ensure that when a court is dealing with a case for which it would not normally have territorial jurisdiction, the sheriff and the prosecutor have all the same powers to deal with it as they would if it were a case that fell within their normal territorial jurisdiction.
259.If more than one person is the subject of criminal proceedings, paragraph 16(3) allows the case to call before a court that would not normally have jurisdiction for the case provided that any one of the people who are the subject of the proceedings is in custody in connection with it. This means, for example, that a case in which two people are co-accused of committing a crime can call before a court that would not normally have jurisdiction for the case even although only one of them has been arrested for the crime and is therefore appearing from custody.
260.Paragraph 16(4) makes it the choice of the Lord Advocate or the procurator fiscal whether or not to rely on subsection (1) to call a case before a court that would not normally have jurisdiction to take it.
261.Paragraph 16(5) allows a sheriff court that has taken on the initial calling of a case by virtue of sub-paragraph (1) to continue dealing with it.
262.The continuing jurisdiction created by sub-paragraph (5) for criminal proceedings can continue until the proceedings’ end, except in the case of a prosecution where the jurisdiction for the proceedings (or part of them) may come to an early end under sub-paragraph (6). Sub-paragraph (6) will end a court’s jurisdiction for a prosecution in two situations:
The first is where the accused pleads not guilty and the prosecutor does not accept that plea. This means it is likely that the case will go to trial, which will be handled by the court that has normal territorial jurisdiction for the case. If an accused is charged with, say, two offences and pleads guilty to one and not guilty to the other, the continuing jurisdiction that sub-paragraph (5) creates over the proceedings will be lost only insofar as the proceedings relate to the charge to which the accused has pled not guilty. The court that has jurisdiction by virtue of sub-paragraph (5) would therefore be able to deal with the guilty plea as it sees fit, including by sentencing the accused for that.
The second point at which sub-paragraph (6) will end a court’s non-territorial jurisdiction for a case is when the accused is committed until liberated in due course of law, which means that the court has ordered the accused be held in prison while solemn proceedings (see paragraph 264) are ongoing.
263.Paragraph 16(7) provides for proceedings on indictment that follow from proceedings on petition to be treated as the same proceedings. In solemn criminal procedure (which is the procedure used for the most serious crimes), cases usually begin with a petition and then progress to an indictment, which sets out the formal charges against the accused. Paragraph 16(7) means that a court which began dealing with a case at the petition stage can continue dealing with it, under sub-paragraph (5), once it has reached indictment stage. In practice, because jurisdiction under sub-paragraph (5) ends with an accused being fully committed for trial, which marks one way the petition stage can end, the effect of sub-paragraph (7) is likely to be relevant only where an accused makes an early guilty plea under section 76 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995.
Ability of any sheriff court to deal with proceedings following failure to appear
264.Paragraph 17 allows a sheriff court to deal with prosecution proceedings for which it would not normally have jurisdiction where the accused has come before it having been arrested for a failure to appear in those prosecution proceedings.
265.When an accused person fails to appear in court, the court can grant a warrant for the accused’s arrest. On arrest the person will be brought before a court as soon as is practicable. That court appearance will be a form of “ancillary proceedings” within the meaning of paragraph 19(1)(d) and therefore any sheriff court can deal with it by virtue of paragraph 16(1). The ancillary proceedings for failing to appear are separate from the main prosecution proceedings. If the person had been brought before the court that had normal territorial jurisdiction for the main prosecution proceedings, the court might have dealt with them as well as the proceedings for the person’s failure to appear. Paragraph 18 allows a court that has jurisdiction to deal with the ancillary proceedings to deal with the prosecution proceedings in the same way that the court with normal territorial jurisdiction would. In most cases that will mean rescheduling diets in light of a hearing having been missed when the accused failed to attend, but in the case of summary proceedings if the accused pleads guilty it may include sentencing the accused or ordering reports ahead of sentencing.
Further provision about extra-territorial jurisdiction
266.As mentioned in the preceding paragraphs, paragraph 18 supports paragraphs 16 and 17 by ensuring that sheriffs and prosecutors have the necessary powers to deal with cases that come before a court by virtue of those paragraphs. It also makes clear that paragraphs 16 and 17 supplement, rather than supersede, other legal bases for a sheriff court taking a case from outwith its normal territorial jurisdiction.
