Criminal Law Act 1967

8 Jurisdiction of quarter sessions.

(1) A court of quarter sessions shall not have jurisdiction to try an indictment for any offence for which a person may be sentenced to death or may under or by virtue of any enactment be sentenced to imprisonment for life:

Provided that this subsection shall not deprive a court of quarter sessions of any jurisdiction which the court has under the law in force at the commencement of this Act.

(2) Accordingly the offences which, when prosecuted on indictment, are triable by a court of quarter sessions shall be the offences mentioned in List A in Schedule 1 to this Act together with all other offences not falling under any head of List B in that Schedule:

Provided that, subject to section 16(4) of the [1962 c. 15.] Criminal Justice Administration Act 1962 (which relates to part-heard cases), a court with restricted jurisdiction shall not have jurisdiction to try an indictment for an offence by reason of its inclusion in Division II of the said List A.

(3) For purposes of subsection (2) above " court with restricted jurisdiction " does not include the court of quarter sessions for any London Commission Area or the court of the recorder of any borough, but with those exceptions means any court of quarter sessions not being presided over by a legally qualified chairman within the meaning of section 2 of the [1938 c. 63.] Administration of Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1938 or by a person entitled under subsection (5) of that section to take the place of the legally qualified chairman of the court; and references in any enactment to offences being triable by a court of quarter sessions under that section shall have effect as references to their being triable by a court of quarter sessions not being a court with restricted jurisdiction.

(4) Notwithstanding any limitation in relation to an offence on the jurisdiction of a court of quarter sessions, a person may be indicted before, or committed for sentence to, the court for that offence; and in the case of offences which the court has no jurisdiction to try on indictment—

(a) where a person is indicted before the court, the powers of the court under section 14(2) of the [1925 c. 86.] Criminal Justice Act 1925 shall include power to direct that his trial shall take place before a court of assize or before a court of quarter sessions for some other place; and

(b) where a person is committed for sentence to the court, the powers of the court shall include power to deal with him in any way in which, on his conviction on indictment before a court having jurisdiction to try the offence, he could be dealt with by that court.