CLAUSE 4.—(Short title and application to Scotland and Northern Ireland.) (Hansard, 31 October 1934)

§ The LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. Normand)
I beg to move, in page 3, line 10, to leave out "In the application of this Act to Scotland," and insert: This Act shall apply to Scotland subject to the following modifications:—(a). This Amendment is a purely drafting Amendment, in order to pave the way for other Amendments which have been rendered necessary by Amendments which have been agreed to during the Report stage.

§ The LORD ADVOCATE
I beg to move, in page 3, line 12, to leave out "two justices of the peace," and insert "a judge of the High Court."
I ought to explain that in Scotland the judges of the High Court are not in the habit of granting warrants; the sheriff substitute is the official who grants warrants of all kinds, and the sheriff substitute is in every case a trained lawyer. There is a possible case where, in the absence of the sheriff substitute, the honorary sheriff substitute, who might he a layman, would be acting in his place, and, in order to prevent the granting of a search warrant under the Act by a layman, I propose later on to move a manuscript Amendment which will have the effect of making it impossible for an honorary sheriff substitute to exercise the jurisdiction conferred upon a sheriff by the Act.

§ The LORD ADVOCATE
I beg to move, in page 3, line 15, to leave out "or," and insert "instead."
The effect of this Amendment is to provide that only the Public Prosecutor and the Procurator Fiscal shall have the right to make an application for a search warrant, and that the inspector of police shall not have that right.

§ The LORD ADVOCATE
I beg to move, in page 3, line 16, at the end, to insert: (b) Sub-section (3) of Section two shall not apply provided that anything seized tinder that section may be retained for a period not exceeding one month, of if within that period prceedings are commenced for in offence under this Act until the conclusion of those proceedings, and subject as aforesaid and to the provisions of any enactment, including this Act, conferring powers on courts dealing with offences, any property which has come into the possession of the police under this section shall be returned to the owner, or, if the owner cannot be ascertained, shall be disposed of in such manner as the sheriff, in a summary application made to him, may direct. (c) The powers conferred by this Act on sheriffs shall not be exercisable by an honorary sheriff substitute. This is a pure drafting Amendment to set up machinery for the recovery of documents corresponding to the machinery provided for England. The purpose of the second paragraph is to exclude the jurisdiction of any layman who may be acting as sheriff for the time being.

§ Mr. BUCHANAN
I am: glad the Lord Advocate has accepted the suggestion to 322 exclude honorary sheriffs substitute. I think it brings the law of Scotland much nearer conformity with that of England.

§ The ATTORNEY-GENERAL
I beg to move, in page 3, line 19, after "Ireland," to insert: the provisions of this Act requiring the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions to the summary trial of cases shall have effect as if. This is consequential on the acceptance of the Amendment of the hon. Member for English Universities (Miss Rathbone).

§ The ATTORNEY-GENERAL
I beg to move, in page 3, line 20, to leave out "shall be," and to insert "were therein."

§ Dr. ADDISON
Can the Attorney-General give an explanation whether the Amendments with regard to furnishing lists, the preservation and return of documents and so forth are embodied in the Amendments relating to Scotland?

§ The ATTORNEY-GENERAL
They apply to Scotland. The Lord Advocate confirms me in that opinion.