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Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2002

  • Explanatory Notes Table of contents

Please note:

All reference to 'Parts' and 'sections' are from the Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2002. For other versions of these Explanatory Notes, see More Resources.

  1. Introduction

  2. Summary

  3. Overview

  4. Commentary

    1. Part 1: the Judiciary

      1. General

        1. Section 1: Guarantee of continued judicial independence

      2. Appointment and Removal

        1. Section 2: Introductory

        2. Section 3: Judicial Appointments Commission

        3. Section 4: Appointment to most senior judicial offices

        4. Section 5: Appointment to listed judicial offices

        5. Section 6: Removal from most senior judicial offices

        6. Section 7: Removal from listed judicial offices

        7. Section 8: Tribunals for considering removal

      3. Magistrates

        1. Section 9: Lay magistrates

        2. Section 10: Transfer of functions of justices of the peace

        3. Section 11: Transfer of functions of lay panellists

      4. Lord Chief Justice

        1. Section 12: Role of the Lord Chief Justice

        2. Sections 13-15: Presiding judges

        3. Section 16: Complaints about holders of judicial office

        4. Section 17: Secretaries to Lord Chief Justice

      5. Other Provisions

        1. Section 18: Qualification for appointment

        2. Section 19:  Judicial oath or affirmation

        3. Section 20:  Crown Solicitor

        4. Section 21: Judicial Pensions: pension sharing

    2. Part 2: Law Officers and Public Prosecution Service

      1. General

      2. Attorney General

        1. Section 22: Attorney General

        2. Section 23: Terms of appointment of Attorney General

        3. Section 24: Removal of Attorney General

        4. Section 25: Participation by Attorney General in Assembly proceedings

        5. Section 26: Annual report by Attorney General

      3. Advocate General

        1. Section 27: Advocate General

        2. Section 28: Functions of Advocate General

      4. Public Prosecution Service

        1. Section 29: Public Prosecution Service

        2. Section 30: Director of Public Prosecutions

        3. Section 31: Conduct of prosecutions

        4. Section 32: Discontinuance of proceedings before court appearance

        5. Section 33: Consents to prosecutions

        6. Section 34: Police complaints

        7. Section 35: Information for Director

        8. Section 36: Exercise of functions by and on behalf of Service

        9. Section 37: Code for Prosecutors

        10. Section 38: Equality and non-discrimination

        11. Section 39: Reports by Director

      5. Relationship of Director and Attorney General

        1. Section 40: Superintendence and removal of Director

        2. Section 41: Transfer of functions etc.

        3. Section 42: Independence of Director

        4. Section 43: Appointment and removal of Director by Attorney General

      6. Supplementary

        1. Section 44: Interpretation

    3. Part 3: Other New Institutions

      1. Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice

        1. Section 45: Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice

        2. Section 46: Functions of Chief Inspector

        3. Section 47: Further provisions about functions

        4. Section 48: Powers of inspectors

        5. Section 49: Reports

      2. Law Commission

        1. Section 50: Law Commission

        2. Section 51: Duties of Commission

        3. Section 52: Reports etc.

    4. Part 4: Youth Justice

      1. Aims

        1. Section 53: Aims of youth justice system

      2. New Orders

        1. Section 54: Reparation orders

        2. Section 55: Community responsibility orders

        3. Section 56: Custody care orders

      3. Youth Conferences

        1. General

        2. Section 57: Youth conferences and youth conference plans

        3. Section 58: Diversionary youth conferences

        4. Section 59: Court-ordered youth conferences

        5. Section 60: Youth conference orders

        6. Section 61: Legal aid for youth conferences

      4. Other Provisions

        1. Section 63: Extension of youth justice system to 17 year olds

        2. Section 64: Juvenile justice centre orders for 17 year olds

        3. Section 65: Consultation about detention

    5. Part 5: Miscellaneous

      1. Royal Arms and Flags

        1. Section 66: Display of the Royal Arms at courts

        2. Section 67: Flying of flags at court-houses

      2. Victims of Crime

        1. Section 68: Information about discharge and temporary release of prisoners

        2. Section 69: Views on temporary release

        3. Section 70: Supplementary

      3. Community Safety

        1. Section 71: Community safety strategy

        2. Section 72: Local community safety partnerships

      4. Civil Procedure

        1. Section 73: Constitution of Rules Committees

        2. Section 74: Appeals in small claims cases

        3. Section 75: Time limit for cases stated by county court

      5. Legal Aid

        1. Section 76: Exceptional legal aid

        2. Section 77: Proceedings before coroner

      6. Court Service

        1. Section 78: Power to abolish the Court Service

      7. Court Security

        1. Sections 79-81: Court security and court security officers

    6. Part 6: Supplementary

      1. Section 82: Excepted matters: judicial office-holders

      2. Section 83:  Reserved matters: new institutions

      3. Section 84: Assembly Acts about judiciary, law officers and prosecutions

      4. Section 89:  Transitionals and savings

      5. Section 90: Statutory rules

      6. Section 91: Extent

    7. Schedule 1: Listed Judicial Offices

    8. Schedule 2: Judicial Appointments Commission

    9. Schedule 3: Appointment to Listed Judicial Offices

    10. Schedule 4: Functions of Justices of the Peace

    11. Schedule 5: Transfer of Functions to Lord Chief Justice

    12. Schedule 6: Office-Holders Required to Take Judicial Oath

    13. Schedule 7: Functions of Advocate General

    14. Schedule 8: Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice

    15. Schedule 9: Law Commission

    16. Schedule 10: Youth Justice Orders: Enforcement Etc

    17. Schedule 11: Extension of Youth Justice System to 17 Year Olds

    18. Schedule 12: Minor and Consequential Amendments

    19. Schedule 13: Repeals and Revocations

  5. Commencement

  6. Hansard References

  • Explanatory Notes Table of contents

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Explanatory Notes

Text created by the government department responsible for the subject matter of the Act to explain what the Act sets out to achieve and to make the Act accessible to readers who are not legally qualified. Explanatory Notes were introduced in 1999 and accompany all Public Acts except Appropriation, Consolidated Fund, Finance and Consolidation Acts.

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