§ Where any person has entered into a recognizance conditioned for his appearance before a court of summary jurisdiction and in breach of that recognizance fails to appear, the court may, without prejudice to any power to enforce the recognizance, issue a warrant for his apprehension.—[Mr. Ede.]
§ Brought up, and read the First time.
§ Mr. EdeI beg to move, "That the Clause be read a Second time."
This case has been brought to our attention by the present Chief Magistrate for the Metropolis. Sometimes it is desirable, in the interests of all concerned, that an accused person who has been found guilty shall not have sentence passed upon him immediately, but shall be remanded so that the court can possibly make inquiries, or can possibly consider what is the appropriate way to deal with him. The curious situation arises that, at the moment, he cannot be compelled to come back to a court of summary jurisdiction to hear the sentence pronounced. It is highly desirable that the accused person should be in court when sentence is pronounced. This new Clause will enable a court, where an accused person declines to attend, to issue a warrant for his apprehension so that he may be brought before the court. I am sure the House will agree that it is an anomaly that a 1102 person, having been convicted, should be able to defy the court and lead to the recommencement of the whole proceedings.
§ Clause read a Second time, and added to the Bill.