SUMMARY JURISDICTION. (I) Meaning: The phrase is now understood in English law as referring to jurisdiction, exer cised by justices of the peace, which may result in a summary con viction or order. Blackstone divides the proceedings in courts of criminal jurisdiction into two kinds : summary and regular : and by regular he means such as involve trial by jury, the only mode of trial known to the Common law except in the case of contempt of court. In these regular proceedings there is only a preliminary hearing before justices, followed by either a dismissal or com mittal for trial by jury at Quarter Sessions or Assizes.
(2) History.—Being unknown to the Common law, this juris diction is entirely the creation of statutes. A brief sketch is to be found in Stephen's History of the Criminal Law, vol. 1. ch. 4, of the growth of the criminal jurisdiction. Speaking generally this growth has shown itself in two distinct forms: (a) The con ferring of exclusive jurisdiction in a vast number of minor offences, mainly involving the infliction of pecuniary penalties, under such headings as Army, Game, Highway, Licensing, Motor Cars, Merchant Shipping, Post Office, Public Health, Revenue and Vagrancy. These offences have been created and are being created by Acts of Parliament or by by-laws of county councils or other local authorities made under statutory authority, or by orders of Departments. (b) The providing in indictable cases of a mode of trial, alternative to trial by jury and dependent for its adoption on the consent of the tribunal, of the accused and in some instances of the prosecution. These cases are re ferred to as indictable cases triable summarily.
In addition to summary criminal jurisdiction, justices have been endowed by many statutes with a summary civil jurisdiction of increasing scope and importance.
apply to justices sitting as the licensing authority nor to the preliminary hearing by justices of indictable offences.
In the Interpretation Act "The Summary Jurisdiction Acts" means the S. J. Act 1848 and the S. J. Act 1879 and any Act past or future amending those Acts or either of them : thereby in cluding amongst others, the Criminal Justice Administration Act 1914 and the Criminal Justice Act 1925. (See S.J. Act 1848 s. 35; S.J. Act 1879 s. 54 and C.J.A. Act 1914 s. 32 [i.].) These Acts prescribe the constitution of the courts and the procedure to be followed up to, during and following the hearing, in such civil cases as are not otherwise specially provided for, in purely summary criminal cases and in indictable cases triable summarily, and further specify what indictable offences are triable sum marily, and the maximum punishment which can be inflicted on conviction. Rules made under these Acts of 1915 and 1926 deal with such matters as the register, accounts, payments and bail.
Act 1848 s. adjourning the hearing to the next practicable sitting of a Petty Sessional Court, and where authorised by the statute creating the offence, trying the case and imposing a punishment of not more than 14 days imprisonment or a fine of not more than 20/—(S.J. Act 1879 s. 2o).
A Petty Sessional Court is defined by the Interpretation Act 1889 as "A court of summary jurisdiction consisting of two or more justices when sitting in a Petty Sessional Court, and shall include the Lord Mayor of the City of London and any Alderman of that city, and any metropolitan or borough police magistrate or other stipendiary magistrate, sitting in a court-house or place at which he is authorised by law to do alone any act authorised to be done by more than one Justice of the Peace." It is by this court that summary jurisdiction must ordinarily be exercised (S.J. Act 1879 S. 20 [9 and io]).