Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1975

395 Provisions as to fines

(1) A court of summary jurisdiction in determining the amount of any fine to be imposed on an offender shall take into consideration, amongst other things, the means of the offender so far as known to the court.

(2) Where a court of summary jurisdiction imposes a fine on an offender, the court may order him to be searched, and any money found on him on apprehension or when so searched or when taken to prison or to a detention centre in default of payment of the fine, may, unless the court otherwise directs, be applied towards payment of the fine, and the surplus if any shall be returned to him:

Provided that the money shall not be so applied if the court is satisfied that it does not belong to the person on whom it was found or that the loss of the money will be more injurious to his family than his imprisonment or detention.

(3) When a court of summary jurisdiction, which has adjudged that a sum of money shall be paid by an offender, shall consider that any money found on the offender on apprehension, or after he has been searched by order of the court, should not be applied towards payment of such sum, the court shall make a direction in writing to that effect which shall be written on the extract of the sentence which imposes the fine before the same is issued by the clerk of the court.

(4) An accused may make an application to such a court either orally or in writing, through the governor of the prison in whose custody he may be at the time, that any sum of money which shall have been found on his person should not be applied in payment of the fine adjudged to be paid by him.

(5) A person who alleges that any money found on the person of an offender is not the property of the offender, but belongs to such person, may apply to such court either orally or in writing for a direction that such money should not be applied in payment of the fine adjudged to be paid, and the court after enquiry may so direct.

(6) A court of summary jurisdiction, which has adjudged that a sum of money shall be paid by an offender, may order the attendance in court of the offender, if he is in prison, for the purpose of ascertaining the ownership of money which shall have been found on his person.

(7) A notice in the form, as nearly as may be, of the appropriate form contained in an Act of Adjournal under this Act, addressed to the governor of the prison in whose custody an offender may be at the time, signed by the judge of a court of summary jurisdiction shall be a sufficient warrant to the governor of such prison for conveying the offender to the court.