Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1975

316 Manner of citation. S

(1) The citation of the accused and witnesses in a summary prosecution to any ordinary sitting of the court or to any special diet fixed by the court or to any adjourned sitting or diet of such court shall be effected as provided in this section.

(2) It shall be deemed a legal citation of the accused or a witness to such a sitting or diet or adjourned sitting or diet as is mentioned in the foregoing subsection:—

(a) if the citation be delivered to him personally or left for him at his dwelling-house or place of business with some person resident or employed therein or, where he has no known dwelling-house or place of business, at any other place in which he may at the time be resident,

(b) where the accused or witness is the master of, or a seaman or person employed in a vessel, if the citation is left with a person on board thereof and connected therewith,

(c) where the accused is a company, association or corporation, if the citation is left at their ordinary place of business with a partner, director, secretary or other official, or if the company, association or corporation is cited in the same manner as if the proceedings were in a civil court, or

(d) where the accused is a body of trustees, if the citation is left with any one of them who is resident in Scotland or with their known solicitor in Scotland.

(3) It shall be deemed a legal citation of the accused [F1 or a witness]to such a sitting or diet or adjourned sitting or diet as is mentioned in subsection (1) hereof, if the citation be signed by the prosecutor and

[F2 (a) in the case of the accused,]

sent by post in a registered envelope or through the recorded delivery service [F3 ; and

(b) in the case of a witness, sent by ordinary post,]

to the dwelling-house or place of business of such accused, or, if he has no known dwelling-house or place of business, to any other place in which he may at the time be resident:

Provided that, if the accused [F4 or witness]shall fail to appear at a diet or sitting or adjourned diet or sitting to which he has been cited in the manner provided by this subsection, paragraphs (b) and (c) of section 338 of this Act shall not apply unless it shall have been proved to the court that he received the citation or that the contents thereof came to his knowledge.

(4) The production in court of any letter or other communication purporting to be written by or on behalf of an accused who has been cited in the manner provided in subsection (3) hereof in such terms as to infer that the contents of such citation came to his knowledge, shall be admissible as evidence of that fact for the purposes of the proviso to that subsection.

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in s. 316(3) inserted (31.3.1996 subject to transitional provisions and savings in the commencing S.I.) by 1995 c. 20, s. 117(1), Sch. 6 Pt. I para. 113(a); S.I. 1996/517, arts. 3(2), 4-6, Sch. 2

F2 S. 316(3)(a) inserted (31.3.1996 subject to transitional provisions and savings in the commencing S.I.) by 1995 c. 20, s. 117(1), Sch. 6 Pt. I para. 113(b); S.I. 1996/517, arts. 3(2), 4-6, Sch. 2

F3 S. 316(3)(b) and the word “and” immediately preceding inserted (31.3.1996 subject to transitional provisions and savings in the commencing S.I.) by 1995 c. 20, s. 117(1), Sch. 6 Pt. I para. 113(b); S.I. 1996/517, arts. 3(2), 4-6, Sch. 2

F4 Words in s. 316(3) proviso inserted (31.3.1996 subject to transitional provisions and savings in the commencing S.I.) by 1995 c. 20, s. 117(1), Sch. 6 Pt. I para. 113(d); S.I. 1996/517, arts. 3(2), 4-6, Sch. 2