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Coroners and Justice Act 2009

  • Explanatory Notes Table of contents

Please note:

All reference to 'Parts' and 'sections' are from the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. For other versions of these Explanatory Notes, see More Resources.

  1. Introduction

  2. Summary

  3. Background

    1. Part 1 - Coroners etc

    2. Part 2 - Criminal offences

    3. Part 3 - Criminal evidence, investigations and procedure

    4. Part 4 – Sentencing

    5. Part 5 - Miscellaneous criminal justice provisions

    6. Part 7 - Criminal memoirs etc

    7. Part 8 - Data Protection Act 1998

  4. Territorial Extent

  5. The Act

    1. Commentary on Sections

      1. Part 1 - Coroners etc

        1. Chapter 1: Investigations into deaths

          1. Section 1: Duty to investigate certain deaths

          2. Section 2: Request for other coroner to conduct investigation

          3. Section 3: Direction for other coroner to conduct investigation

          4. Section 4: Discontinuance where cause of death revealed by post-mortem examination

          5. Section 5: Matters to be ascertained

          6. Section 6: Duty to hold inquest

          7. Section 7: Whether jury required

          8. Section 8: Assembling a jury

          9. Section 9: Determinations and findings by jury

          10. Section 10: Determinations and findings to be made

          11. Section 11 and Schedule 1: Duty or power to suspend or resume investigations

            1. Paragraph 1: Suspension of investigation where certain criminal charges may be brought

            2. Paragraph 2: Suspension where certain criminal proceedings are brought

            3. Paragraphs 3 and 4: Suspension pending inquiry under Inquiries Act 2005

            4. Paragraph 5: General power to suspend

            5. Paragraph 6: Effect of suspension

            6. Paragraph 7: Resumption of investigation suspended under paragraph 1

            7. Paragraph 8: Resumption of investigation suspended under paragraph 2

            8. Paragraph 9: Resumption of investigation suspended under paragraph 3

            9. Paragraph 10: Resumption of investigation under paragraph 5

            10. Paragraph 11: Supplemental

          12. Section 12: Investigation in Scotland

          13. Section 13: Investigation in England and Wales despite body being brought to Scotland

          14. Section 14: Post-mortem examinations

          15. Section 15: Power to remove body

          16. Section 16:  Investigations lasting more than a year

          17. Section 17:  Monitoring of and training for investigations into deaths of service personnel

        2. Chapter 2:  Notification, certification and registration of deaths

          1. Section 18: Notification by medical practitioner to senior coroner

          2. Section 19: Medical examiners

          3. Section 20: Medical certificate of cause of death

          4. Section 21: National Medical Examiner

        3. Chapter 3: Coroner areas, appointments etc

          1. Section 22 and Schedule 2: Coroner areas

          2. Section 23 and Schedule 3: Appointment etc of senior coroners, area coroners and assistant coroners

            1. Part 1 – Appointment of senior, area and assistant coroners

            2. Part 2 – Qualifications of senior, area and assistant coroners

            3. Part 3 – Vacancies, and functions of area and assistant coroners

            4. Part 4 - Terms of office of senior, area and assistant coroners

          3. Section 24: Provision of staff and accommodation

        4. Chapter 4:  Investigations concerning Treasure

          1. Section 25 and Schedule 4:  Coroner for Treasure and Assistant Coroners for Treasure

            1. Part 1 – Appointment, qualifications and terms of office of Coroner for Treasure

            2. Part 2 – Designation and remuneration of Assistant Coroners for Treasure

            3. Part 3 – Miscellaneous

          2. Section 26:  Investigations concerning treasure

          3. Section 27:  Inquests concerning treasure

          4. Section 28:  Outcome of investigations concerning treasure

          5. Section 29:  Exception to duty to investigate

          6. Section 30: Duty to notify Coroner for Treasure etc of acquisition of certain objects

          7. Section 31:  Code of practice under the Treasure Act 1996

        5. Chapter 5: Further provisions to do with investigations and deaths

          1. Section 32 and Schedule 5: Powers of coroners

            1. Paragraph 1 and 2: Power to require evidence to be given or produced

            2. Paragraphs 3 to 5: Power of entry, search and seizure

            3. Paragraph 6: Exhumation of body for examination

            4. Paragraph 7: Action to prevent other deaths

          2. Section 33 and Schedule 6: Offences

          3. Section 34 and Schedule 7: Allowances, fees and expenses

        6. Chapter 6:  Governance etc

          1. Section 35 and Schedule 8: Chief Coroner and Deputy Chief Coroners

          2. Section 36:  Reports and advice to the Lord Chancellor from the Chief Coroner

          3. Section 37:  Regulations about training

          4. Section 38 and Schedule 9: Medical Adviser to the Chief Coroner

          5. Section 39: Inspection of coroner system

          6. Section 40: Appeals to the Chief Coroner

          7. Section 41 and Schedule 10: Investigation by Chief Coroner or Coroner for Treasure or by judge, former judge or former coroner

          8. Section 42:  Guidance by the Lord Chancellor

        7. Chapter 7: Supplementary

          1. Section 43: Coroners regulations

          2. Section 44: Treasure regulations

          3. Section 45: Coroners rules

          4. Section 46: Abolition of the office of coroner of the Queen’s household

          5. Section 47: “Interested person”

          6. Section 48: Interpretation: general

          7. Section 49 and Schedule 11:  Amendments to the Coroners Act (Northern Ireland) 1959

          8. Section 50:  Amendments to the Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths Inquiry (Scotland) Act 1976

          9. Section 51: Public funding for advocacy at certain inquests

      2. Part 2 - Criminal offences

        1. Chapter 1: Murder, infanticide and suicide

          1. Section 52:  Persons suffering from diminished responsibility (England and Wales)

          2. Section 53:  Persons suffering from diminished responsibility (Northern Ireland)

          3. Section 54:  Partial defence to murder: loss of control

          4. Section 55:  Meaning of “qualifying trigger”

          5. Section 56:  Abolition of common law defence of provocation

          6. Section 57:  Infanticide (England and Wales)

          7. Section 58:  Infanticide (Northern Ireland)

          8. Section 59:  Encouraging or assisting suicide: England and Wales

          9. Section 60:  Encouraging or assisting suicide (Northern Ireland)

          10. Section 61 and Schedule 12: Encouraging or assisting suicide: providers of information society services

        2. Chapter 2:  Images of children

          1. Section 62:  Possession of prohibited images of children

          2. Section 63:  Exclusion of classified film, etc

          3. Section 64:  Defences

          4. Section 65:  Meaning of “image” and “child”

          5. Section 66:  Penalties

          6. Section 67:  Entry, search, seizure and forfeiture

          7. Section 68 and Schedule 13: Special rules relating to providers of information society services

          8. Section 69: Indecent pseudo-photographs of children: marriage etc

        3. Chapter 3:  Other offences

          1. Section 70:  Genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes

          2. Section 71:  Slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour

          3. Section 72:  Conspiracy

          4. Section 73:  Abolition of common law libel offences etc

      3. Part 3 - Criminal evidence, investigations and procedure

        1. Chapter 1: Anonymity in investigations

          1. Section 74: Qualifying offences

          2. Section 75: Qualifying criminal investigations

          3. Section 76: Investigation anonymity orders

          4. Section 77: Applications

          5. Section 78: Conditions for making order

          6. Section 79: Appeal against refusal of order

          7. Section 80: Discharge of order

          8. Section 81: Delegation of functions

          9. Section 82: Public interest immunity

          10. Section 83: Review

          11. Section 84: Application to armed forces

          12. Section 85: Interpretation of this Chapter

        2. Chapter 2: Anonymity of witnesses

          1. Section 86: Witness anonymity orders

          2. Section 87: Applications

          3. Section 88: Conditions for making order

          4. Section 89: Relevant considerations

          5. Section 90: Warning to jury

          6. Section 91: Discharge or variation of order

          7. Section 92: Discharge or variation after proceedings

          8. Section 93: Discharge or variation by appeal court

          9. Section 94: Special provisions for service courts

          10. Section 95:  Public interest immunity

          11. Section 96: Power to make orders under the 2008 Act

          12. Section 97: Interpretation of this Chapter

        3. Chapter 3: Vulnerable and intimidated witnesses

          1. Section 98: Eligibility for special measures: age of child witnesses

          2. Section 99: Eligibility for special measures: offences involving weapons

          3. Section 100: Special measures directions for child witnesses

          4. Section 101: Special provisions relating to sexual offences

          5. Section 102: Evidence by live link: presence of supporter

          6. Section 103: Video recorded evidence in chief: supplementary testimony

          7. Section 104: Examination of accused through intermediary

          8. Section 105:  Age of child complainant

        4. Chapter 4:  Live links

          1. Section 106:  Directions to attend through live link

          2. Section 107:  Answering to live link bail

          3. Section 108:  Searches of persons answering to live link bail

          4. Section 109:  Use of live link in certain enforcement hearings

          5. Section 110:  Direction of registrar for appeal hearing by live link

        5. Chapter 5:  Miscellaneous

          1. Section 111:  Effect of admission of video recording

          2. Section 112:  Admissibility of evidence of previous complaints

          3. Section 113:  Powers in respect of offenders who assist investigations and prosecutions

          4. Section 114:  Bail: assessment of risk of committing an offence causing injury

          5. Section 115:  Bail decisions in murder cases to be made by a Crown Court judge

          6. Section 116:  Indictment of offenders

          7. Section 117: Detention of persons under section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000

      4. Part 4 - Sentencing

        1. Chapter 1: Sentencing Council for England and Wales

          1. Section 118 and Schedule 15:  Sentencing Council for England and Wales

          2. Section 119:  Annual Report

          3. Section 120:  Sentencing guidelines

          4. Section 121: Sentencing ranges

          5. Section 122:  Allocation guidelines

          6. Section 123: Preparation or revision of guidelines in urgent cases

          7. Section 124:  Proposals by Lord Chancellor or Court of Appeal

          8. Section 125:  Sentencing Guidelines: duty of court

          9. Section 126: Determination of tariffs etc

          10. Section 127: Resource implications of guidelines

          11. Section 128: Monitoring

          12. Section 129:  Promoting awareness

          13. Section 130:  Resources: effect of sentencing practice

          14. Section 131:  Resources: effect of factors not related to sentencing

          15. Section  132: Duty to assess impact of policy and legislative proposals

          16. Section 133: Assistance by Lord Chancellor

          17. Section 134: Entrenchment of Lord Chancellor’s functions

          18. Section 135: Abolition of existing sentencing bodies

          19. Section 136: Interpretation of this Chapter

        2. Chapter 2:  Other provisions relating to sentencing

          1. Section 137 and Schedule 16:  Extension of driving disqualification

          2. Section 138:  Dangerous offenders: terrorism offences (England and Wales)

          3. Section 139:  Dangerous offenders: terrorism offences (Northern Ireland)

          4. Section 140: Appeals against certain confiscation orders (England and Wales)

          5. Section 141: Appeals against certain confiscation orders (Northern Ireland)

      5. Part 5 - Miscellaneous criminal justice provisions

        1. Section 142:  Commissioner for Victims and Witnesses

        2. Section 143:  Implementation of E-Commerce and Services directives: penalties

        3. Section 144 and Schedule 17:  Treatment of convictions in other member States etc

          1. Admission of evidence as to bad character of a defendant

          2. Bail

          3. Decision as to allocation

          4. Seriousness

          5. Required custodial sentences for certain offences

            1. Restriction on imposing custodial sentence or service detention

          6. Young offenders: referral conditions

          7. Proving of foreign convictions before courts

        4. Section 145:  Transfer to Parole Board of functions under the Criminal Justice Act 1991

        5. Section 146:  Retention of knives surrendered or seized: England and Wales

        6. Section 147:  Retention of knives surrendered or seized: Northern Ireland

        7. Section 148:  Security in tribunal buildings

      6. Part 6 - Legal aid and other payments for legal services

        1. Section 149:  Community Legal Service: pilot schemes

        2. Section 150:  Excluded services: help in connection with business matters

        3. Section 151:  Criminal Defence Service: information requests

        4. Section 152 and Schedule 18: Criminal Defence Service: enforcement of order to pay cost of representation

        5. Section 153:  Statutory instruments relating to the Legal Services Commission

        6. Section 154:  Damages-based agreements relating to employment matters

      7. Part 7 - Criminal Memoirs etc

        1. Section 155: Exploitation proceeds orders

        2. Section 156:  Qualifying offenders

        3. Section 157: Qualifying offenders: service offences

        4. Section 158:  Qualifying offenders: supplementary

        5. Section 159:  Relevant offences

        6. Section 160: Deriving a benefit

        7. Section 161:  Applications

        8. Section 162: Determination of applications

        9. Section 163:  Limits on recoverable amount

        10. Section 164:  The available amount

        11. Section 165:  Property

        12. Section 166: Effect of conviction being quashed

        13. Section 167:  Powers of court on repeat applications

        14. Section 168:  Additional proceeds reporting orders

        15. Section 169 and Schedule 19:  Exploitation proceeds investigations

        16. Section 170: Functions of Serious Organised Crime Agency

        17. Section 171:  Limitation

        18. Section 172: Interpretation of Part 7

      8. Part 8 - Data Protection Act 1998

        1. Section 173: Assessment notices

        2. Section 174:  Data-sharing code of practice

        3. Section 175 and Schedule 20: Further amendments of the Data Protection Act 1998

          1. Data Controllers’ Registration

          2. Assessment notices

          3. Power to require information

            1. Restriction on the use of information

            2. Monetary penalties: restriction on matters to be taken into account

            3. Warrant for entry and inspection

      9. Part 9 - General

        1. Section 176:  Orders, regulations and rules

        2. Section 177 and Schedules 21 and 22:  Consequential etc. amendments and transitional and saving provisions

        3. Schedule 21:  Minor and consequential amendments

          1. Part 1 - Coroners

          2. Part 2 – Murder and Suicide

          3. Part 9 - Disqualification for Driving

          4. Part 10 - Miscellaneous

        4. Schedule 22: Transitory, transitional and saving provisions

        5. Section 178 and Schedule 23:  Repeals

        6. Section 180:  Effect of amendments to provisions applied for the purposes of service law.

        7. Section 181: Extent

        8. Section 182:  Commencement

  6. Commencement

  7. Hansard References

  8. ANNEX AGLOSSARY

  • Explanatory Notes Table of contents

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