Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994

52 Circuit judges to act as judges of criminal division of Court of Appeal

(1) Section 9 of the [1981 c. 54.] Supreme Court Act 1981 (which provides for certain judges to act on request in courts other than that to which they were appointed) shall have effect with the amendments specified in subsections (2) to (5) below.

(2) In subsection (1)—

(a) after the words “Table may”, there shall be inserted the words “, subject to the proviso at the end of that Table,”;

(b) in the Table, in column 2, in the entry specifying the court relating to entry 5 in column 1 (Circuit judges), after the words “High Court” there shall be inserted the words “and the Court of Appeal”; and

(c) at the end of the Table there shall be inserted the following— “The entry in column 2 specifying the Court of Appeal in relation to a Circuit judge only authorises such a judge to act as a judge of a court in the criminal division of the Court of Appeal.

(3) In subsection (2)—

(a) in the definition of “the appropriate authority” after the words “High Court” there shall be inserted the words “or a Circuit judge”; and

(b) at the end, there shall be inserted the following— “but no request shall be made to a Circuit judge to act as a judge of a court in the criminal division of the Court of Appeal unless he is approved for the time being by the Lord Chancellor for the purpose of acting as a judge of that division.

(4) In subsection (5), for the words “subsection (6)” there shall be substituted the words “subsections (6) and (6A)”.

(5) After subsection (6) there shall be inserted the following subsection—

“(6A) A Circuit judge or Recorder shall not by virtue of subsection (5) exercise any of the powers conferred on a single judge by sections 31 and 44 of the [1968 c. 19.] Criminal Appeal Act 1968 (powers of single judge in connection with appeals to the Court of Appeal and appeals from the Court of Appeal to the House of Lords).”.

(6) The further amendments specified in subsections (7) to (9) below (which supplement the foregoing amendments) shall have effect.

(7) In section 55 of the Supreme Court Act 1981 (composition of criminal division of Court of Appeal)—

(a) in subsections (2) and (4), at the beginning, there shall be inserted the words “Subject to subsection (6),”; and

(b) after subsection (5), there shall be inserted the following subsection—

“(6) A court shall not be duly constituted if it includes more than one Circuit judge acting as a judge of the court under section 9.”.

(8) After section 56 of the Supreme Court Act 1981 there shall be inserted the following section—

“56A Circuit judges not to sit on certain appeals

No Circuit judge shall act in the criminal division of the Court of Appeal as a judge of that court under section 9 on the hearing of, or shall determine any application in proceedings incidental or preliminary to, an appeal against—

(a) a conviction before a judge of the High Court; or

(b) a sentence passed by a judge of the High Court.”.

(9) After the section 56A of the [1981 c. 54.] Supreme Court Act 1981 inserted by subsection (8) above there shall be inserted the following section—

“56B Allocation of cases in criminal division

(1) The appeals or classes of appeals suitable for allocation to a court of the criminal division of the Court of Appeal in which a Circuit judge is acting under section 9 shall be determined in accordance with directions given by or on behalf of the Lord Chief Justice with the concurrence of the Lord Chancellor.

(2) In subsection (1) “appeal” includes the hearing of, or any application in proceedings incidental or preliminary to, an appeal.”.