New South Wales Consolidated Acts

DISTRICT COURT ACT 1973 - SECT 171

171 Criminal procedure rules

(1) The Rule Committee may make rules, not inconsistent with this Act or any other Act, for or with respect to any matter that by this Act is required or permitted to be prescribed for the purposes of, or in connection with, the exercise by the Court of its criminal jurisdiction or that is necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Part and Division 3 of Part 2 or any Act under or by virtue of which rules under this Part apply, and in particular for or with respect to providing for the procedure and practice to be followed in the Court in all proceedings in which, and with respect to which, the Court has for the time being criminal jurisdiction and regulating or providing for any matters incidental to, or relating to, any such procedure or practice.

(2) Without limiting the generality of subsection (1), rules may be made under that subsection for or with respect to any of the following:

(a) prescribing the duties and functions of the Judicial Registrar, other registrars and other officers of the Court and the records to be kept by them in relation to or for the purposes of any proceedings,

(b) conferring on a registrar in particular proceedings power, subject to the rules, to issue on behalf of a defendant or an appellant in those proceedings:

(i) a subpoena requiring a person specified in the subpoena to attend and give evidence in the proceedings, or

(ii) a subpoena requiring a person specified in the subpoena to attend and produce, for the purpose of evidence, in the proceedings any document or thing that is in the possession or under the control of that person,

(c) providing for the sittings of the Court and the regulation of business at those sittings,

(d) prescribing and providing for the places at which particular proceedings may be held and, subject to any enactment or rule of law which confers powers on the Attorney General with respect to the venue or changes of venue of proceedings, providing for the venue of proceedings to be changed and prescribing the circumstances in which, and the conditions subject to which, any such change may be made,

(e) providing for the vacations and holidays of the Court and the hearing and disposal of proceedings during any such vacations or holidays,

(f) providing for all procedural matters relating to or incidental to the indictment and arraignment of an accused person, including motions to quash or stay indictments,

(g) providing for all matters relating to the conduct of the proceedings, including matters concerning the representation of defendants and appellants in proceedings,

(h) providing for evidentiary matters in proceedings, including matters relating to the giving of expert evidence,

(i) prescribing the procedure and practice with respect to the delivery of verdicts, the convicting and sentencing of persons found by the Court guilty of offences and the acquittal of persons found by the Court not guilty of offences,

(j) prescribing the procedure for proceedings in the Court under section 126 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1986 and Part 4 of the Victims Compensation Act 1996 ,

(ja) conferring on the Court the same powers as the Supreme Court has to make an order for a view of real property for the purposes of any proceedings,

(k) subject to the Costs in Criminal Cases Act 1967 , providing for matters relating to the payment of the costs of or in relation to proceedings and, in particular:

(i) empowering the Court to order an Australian legal practitioner appearing in particular proceedings to disclose the amount of any costs that the Australian legal practitioner intends to retain out of any sum ordered by the Court to be paid to the Australian legal practitioner’s client, and

(ii) empowering the Court to order the Australian legal practitioner for a party to particular proceedings personally to pay specified costs of the proceedings and to order further that the costs so specified not be recoverable by the Australian legal practitioner from the party.

(3) A provision of the rules may:

(a) apply generally or be limited in its application by reference to specified exceptions or factors,

(b) apply differently according to different factors of a specified kind, or

(c) authorise any matter or thing to be from time to time determined, applied or regulated by any specified person or body,

or may do any combination of those things.

(5) Despite any other provision of this Act, the provisions of Part 3 of Chapter 4 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1986 and any rules under that Part apply to proceedings in the Court in its criminal jurisdiction.