Adjournment and remand
179Power of court to adjourn a case before sentence
It is hereby declared that the power of a court to adjourn the hearing of a case includes power, after a person has been convicted or the court has found that he committed the offence and before he has been sentenced or otherwise dealt with, to adjourn the case for the purpose of enabling inquiries to be made or of determining the most suitable method of dealing with his case:
Provided that a court shall not for the purpose aforesaid adjourn the hearing of a case for any single period exceeding three weeks.
180Remand for inquiry into physical or mental condition
(1)Without prejudice to any powers exercisable by a court under the last foregoing section, where a person is charged before a court with an offence punishable with imprisonment, and the court is satisfied that he did the act or made the omission charged but is of opinion that an inquiry ought to be made into his physical or mental condition before the method of dealing with him is determined, the court shall remand him in custody or on bail for such period or periods, no single period exceeding three weeks, as the court thinks necessary to enable a medical examination and report to be made.
(2)Where a person is remanded on bail under this section, bail shall be found by bail bond, and it shall be a condition of the bond that he shall—
(a)undergo a medical examination by a duly qualified medical practitioner or, where the inquiry is into his mental condition and the bond so specifies, two such practitioners; and
(b)for the purpose attend at an institution or place, or on any such practitioner specified in the bond and, where the inquiry is into his mental condition, comply with any directions which may be given to him for the said purpose by any person so specified or by a person of any class so specified ;
and, if arrangements have been made for his reception, it may be a condition of the bond that the person shall, for the purpose of the examination, reside in an institution or place specified as aforesaid, not being an institution or place to which he could have been remanded in custody, until the expiry of such period as may be so specified or until he is discharged therefrom, whichever first occurs.
(3)Where a person remanded on bail under this section fails to comply with any such condition of the bond as is mentioned in the last foregoing subsection, the bail may be forfeited.
(4)On exercising the powers conferred by this section the court shall—
(a)where the person is remanded in custody, send to the institution or place in which he is detained, and
(b)where the person is released on bail, send to the institution or place at which or the person by whom he is to be examined,
a statement of the reasons for which the court is of opinion that an inquiry ought to be made into his physical or mental condition, and of any information before the court about his physical or mental condition.