The Feilding Star, Oroua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette. Published Daily.

Feilding Star, Volume XVI, Issue 122, 19 November 1894, Page 2

The Feilding Star, Oroua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette. Published Daily.

MONDAY, NOV. 19, 1894. THE SUMMARY JURISDICTION ACT. * " The Indictable Offences Summary Jurisdiction Act " passed last session ■ is undoubtedly a very important measure. It consolidates the Coinage Offiences Act, the Larceny Act, the Offences against the Person Act, and the Malicious Injuries to Property Act — which confer summary jurisdiction i upon Justices of the Peace, and which , havo not been repealed by the Criminal Code, as well as the pro- ' visions of " The Justices of the Peace ' Act, 1882," as amended by the Act \ of 1885, relating to the sumniary L trial, with consent, of adults and I juvenile offenders for certain indictr able offences. With regard to offences by children, section 176 of i " Tho Justices of the Peace Act, » 1882,"' provides for the summary * trial of any child, with the consent of I the parent or guardian, for any in- * dictable offence othor than homicide — thus taking away altogether the sum- . mar}* jurisdiction of Justices in respect f to children guilty of the most petty • offences ; as this could not bave been 'f intended, the words ** Not punishable 1 on summary conviction " have boen inserted in clause 56 after " Indictable offence," whereby children may bo ' summarily punished for offences witbiu the orlinary juriidiction of Justices, and the power of summary trial for grave offences against tho criminal - law is maintained. The Act has been framed on the lines of the Criminal Codo, and the various definitions in • that Code havo been incorporated therein, ns being necessary in con sequence of tho abolition of all common-law offences, and the alterations made by the Code in the general criminal law. A special provision is inserted allowing oue month's imprisonment or a fine of £5 to be *,' imposed on anyone convicted of pretending to uso any kind of witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment or conjuration, '" or undertaking to tell fortunes or discover where lost or stolen goods may be found, or deceiving or im- " posing on people with using any subtle craft, mean?, or device, by j palmistry or otherwise.