SCHEDULES.

Sections 1, 2(2).

FIRST SCHEDULERules

Material, &c. for indictments.

1(1)An indictment may be on parchment or durable paper, and may be either written or printed, or partly written and partly printed.

(2)Each sheet on which an indictment is set out shall be not more than 12 aod not less than 6 inches in length, and not more that 14 and not less than 12 inches in width, and if more than one sheet is required, the sheets shall be fastened together in book form.

(3)A proper margin not less than 3 inches in width shall be kept on the left-hand side of each sheet.

(4)Figures and abbreviations may be used in an indictment for expressing anything which is commonly expressed thereby.

(5)There shall be endorsed on the back of an indictment the name of every witness examined or intended to be examined by the grand jury, and the foreman of the grand jury shall write his initials against the name of each witness so examined.

(6)An indictment shall not be open to objection by reason only of any failure to comply with this rule.

Commencement of the indictment.

2The commencement of the indictment shall be in the following form :—

Joining of charges in one indictment.

3Charges for any offences, whether felonies or misdemeanours, may be joined in the same indictment if those charges are founded on the same facts, or form or are a part of a series of offences of the same or a similar character.

Mode in which offences are to be charged.

4(1)A description of the offence charged in an indictment, or where more than one offence is charged in an indictment, of each offence so charged, shall be set out in the indictment in a separate paragraph called a count.

(2)A count of an indictment shall commence with a statement of the offence charged, called the statement of offence.

(3)The statement of offence shall describe the offence shortly in ordinary language, avoiding as far as possible the use of technical terms, and without necessarily stating all the essential elemeuts of the offence, and if the offence charged is one created by statute, shall contain a reference to the section of the statute creating the offence.

(4)After the statement of the offence, particulars of such offence shall be set out in ordinary language, in which the use of technical terms shall not be necessary :

Provided that where any rule of law or any statute limits the particulars of an offence which are required to be given in an indictment, nothing in this rule shall require any more particulars to he given than those so required.

(5)The forms set out in the appendix to these rules or forms conforming thereto as nearly as may be shall be used in cases to which they are applicable, and in other cases forms to the like effect or conforming thereto as nearly as may be shall be used, the statement of offence and the particulars of offence being varied according to the circumstances in each case.

(6)Where an indictment contains more than one count, the counts shall be numbered consecutively.

Provisions as to statutory offences.

5(1)Where an enactment constituting an offence states the offence to be the doing or the omission to do any one of any different acts in the alternative, or the doing or the omission to do any act in any one of any different capacities, or with any one of any different intentions, or states any part of the offence in the alternative, the acts, omissions, capacities, or intentions, or other matters stated in the alternative in the enactment, may be stated in the alternative in the count charging the offence.

(2)It shall not be necessary, in any count charging a statutory offence, to negative any exception or exemption from or qualification to the operation of the statute creating the offence.

Description of property.

6(1)The description of property in a count in an indictment shall be in ordinary language and such as to indicate with reasonable clearness the property referred to, and if the property is so described it shall not be necessary (except when required for the purpose of describing an offence depending on any special ownership of property or special value of property) to name the person to whom the property belongs or the value of the property.

(2)Where property is vested in more than one person, and the owners of the property are referred to in an indictment it shall be sufficient to describe the property as owned by one of those persons by name with others, and if the persons owning the property are a body of persons with a collective name, such as " Inhabitants," " 'trustees," " Commissioners," or " Club" or other such name, it shall be sufficient to use the collective name without naming any individual.

Description of persons.

7The description or designation in an indictment of the accused person, or of any other person to whom reference is made therein, shall be such as is, reasonably sufficient to identify him, without necessarily stating his correct name, or his abode, style, degree, or occupation ; and if, owing to the name of the person not being known, or for any other reason, it is impracticable to give such a description or designation, such description or designation shall be given as is reasonably practicable in the circumstances, or such person may be described as " a person unknown."

Description of document.

8Where it is necessary to refer to any document or instrument in an indictment, it shall be sufficient to describe it by any name or designation by which it is usually known, or by the purport thereof, without setting out any copy thereof.

General rule as to description.

9Subject to any other provisions of these rules, it shall be sufficient to describe any place, time, thing, matter, act, or omission whatsover to which it is necessary to refer in any indictment, in ordinary language in such a manner as to indicate with reasonable clearness the place, time, thing, matter, act or omission referred to.

Statement of intent.

10It shall not be necessary in stating any intent to defraud, deceive or injure to state an intent to defraud, deceive or injure any particular person where the statute creating the offence does not make an intent to defraud, deceive or injure a particular person an essential ingredient of the offence.

Charge of previous convictions, &c.

11Any charge of a previous conviction of an offence or of being a habitual criminal or a habitual drunkard shall be charged at the end of the indictment by means of a statement—in the case of a previous conviction that the person accused has been previously convicted of that offence at a certain time and place without stating the particulars of the offence, and in the case of a habitual criminal or habitual drunkard, that the offender is a habitual criminal or a habitual drunkard, as the case may be.

Saving of s. 32(4) of 8 Edw. 7. c.67.

12Nothing in these rules or in any rules made under section two of this Act shall affect the provisions of subsection (4) of section thirty-two of the Children Act, 1908.

Duty to furnish copy of indictment.

13(1)It shall be the duty of the clerk of assize, after a true bill has been found on any indictment, to supply to the accused person, on request, a copy of the indictment free of charge.

(2)The cost of any copy supplied to the accused person whether under this rule or otherwise shall be treated as part of the costs of the prosecution for the purpose of section one of the [8 Edw. 7. c. 15.] Costs in Criminal Cases Act, 1908.

(3)In the application of this rule to quarter sessions, the clerk of the peace shall be substituted for the clerk of assize.

Interpretation.

14The [52 & 53 Vict. c. 63.] Interpretation Act, 1889, applies for the interpretation of these rules, as it applies for the interpretation of an Act of Parliament.

Short title.

15These rules may be cited as the Indictment rules, 1915, and these rules, together with any rules made under section two of this Act, may be cited together by such collective title as may be prescribed by the last-mentioned rules.