Simplified procedure for certain traffic offences.

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Justices of the Peace Amendment Act (No. 2) 1955

Public Act		1955 No 71
Date of assent		26 October 1955

	Title
1	Short Title and commencement.
2	Simplified procedure for certain traffic offences.

An Act to amend the Justices of the Peace Act 1927.

BE IT ENACTED by the General Assembly of New Zealand in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1 Short Title and commencement.

(1)

This Act may be cited as the Justices of the Peace Amendment Act (No. 2) 1955, and shall be read together with and deemed part of the Justices of the Peace Act 1927 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act).

(2)

This Act shall come into force on the first day of January, nineteen hundred and fifty-six.

2 Simplified procedure for certain traffic offences.

The principal Act is hereby amended by inserting, after section sixty, the following section:

“60a

“(1)

In this section, unless the context otherwise requires, the expression ‘traffic offence’ means any offence for the time being declared by the Governor-General, under subsection two of this section, to be a traffic offence for the purposes of this section.

1949, No. 7

“(2)

The Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council, declare any offence against Part II or Part III of the Transport Act 1949, or against any regulation or by-law made under that Act, or against any regulation or by-law made under any other enactment and relating to the use of vehicles or parking places or transport stations, that is punishable on summary conviction by a fine of any amount not exceeding fifty pounds, and is not punishable by imprisonment, to be a traffic offence for the purposes of this section.

“(3)

Notwithstanding anything in this Act, any Magistrate, or, if there are two or more Magistrates ordinarily sitting in the Court in any town, the senior Magistrate in that town, may at any time give to the Registrar of any Court in which he is authorized to sit a direction in writing that proceedings for traffic offences shall be dealt with in that Court in accordance with this section.

“(4)

By any such direction as aforesaid the Magistrate may direct that all traffic offences, or such of them only as are specified in the direction, shall be so dealt with; and shall fix in respect of every traffic offence to which the direction applies the amount of the fine (in this section referred to as the standard fine) to be specified in any notice sent to any defendant pursuant to subsection six of this section. Different amounts may be so fixed in respect of first, second, and subsequent offences. No amount so fixed shall exceed the maximum fine prescribed by any enactment for that offence.

“(5)

Any such direction as aforesaid may from time to time in like manner be varied or revoked by the Magistrate for the time being authorized to give a direction under this section; and until it is so revoked it shall remain in force in the Court to which it applies.

“(6)

While any such direction remains in force, the following provisions shall apply:

“(a)

Where any information is laid against any person for any traffic offence to which the direction applies, a summons to the defendant shall not be issued in the first instance, unless the informant requires the issue of a summons:

“(b)

Unless a summons is so issued, the Registrar shall post to the defendant a notice in writing in the prescribed form specifying the date and nature of the alleged offence and the standard fine therefor and the amount of the prescribed fee (being the fee for the time being prescribed under this Act for an information and summons). The notice shall state that if the defendant does not wish to deny the offence he may pay the amount of the standard fine and the prescribed fee into the Court office within fourteen days after the date of the notice, and that if he desires to deny the offence or to be heard on the question of penalty he should notify the Registrar in writing, within the said period of fourteen days, that he so desires:

“(c)

If before a summons is issued under paragraph (e) of this subsection the defendant pays the amount of the standard fine and the prescribed fee as aforesaid, he shall thereupon be deemed to have pleaded guilty and to have been convicted of the offence and to have paid the amount of the fine and costs imposed on his conviction:

“(d)

If within the said period of fourteen days the defendant notifies the Registrar in writing that he wishes to deny the offence or to be heard on the question of penalty, the Registrar shall fix a time and place for the hearing, and shall serve or cause to be served on the defendant a notification of the time and place so fixed, and it shall not be necessary for any summons to the defendant to be issued. At the time and place so fixed the matter of the information shall be heard and determined in all respects as if the notification were a summons:

“(e)

If the defendant does not pay the standard fine and the prescribed fee or notify the Registrar as aforesaid, a summons to the defendant shall be issued and the matter of the information heard and determined in accordance with this Act.

“(7)

Where any person deemed to be convicted under paragraph (c) of subsection six of this section desires to apply for a rehearing of the information under section one hundred and twenty-two of this Act, the application may be made to and dealt with by any Magistrate or Justice.

“(8)

The Governor-General may from time to time, by any Order in Council under subsection two of this section or by any subsequent Order in Council, make all such regulations as in his opinion are necessary or expedient for giving full effect to the provisions of this section and for the due administration thereof. Every such Order in Council shall be laid before Parliament within twenty-eight days after the making thereof if Parliament is then in session, and, if not, shall be laid before Parliament within twenty-eight days after the commencement of the next ensuing session.”

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Justices of the Peace Amendment Act (No. 2) 1955