COMMONS AMENDMENTS (Hansard, 27 October 1976)

§ Lord HARRIS of GREENWICH

My Lords, with the leave of the House I beg to move that this House doth agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos.1 and 2. With the leave of the House, I will speak at the same time to Amendments 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 33, 35, 37, 38, 39, 40 and 42. The purpose of these Amendments is to clarify the law on the position of a defendant who has surrendered in accordance with the requirement attached to the grant of bail to him. The general principle underlying these Amendments is that when a defendant surrenders as required, he is surrendering himself into the custody of the court. This does not mean that he must forthwith be placed in confinement if, as often occurs in practice, his case is not called immediately. All it means is that he is in the hands of the court, which may issue such directions as seem appropriate. Ordinarily speaking, of course, a defendant who arrives at a court to surrender to his bail will simply be told to remain in the waiting room until his case 517 is called. If however he then absents himself without permission, and is not there when his case is called, the court, if satisfied that this is necessary, will normally issue a warrant for his arrest. The Amendment (No. 10) to Clause 7 explicitly provides that this may be done. My Lords, I beg to move that this House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendments.