Jersey Law 4/1994
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
(COMPENSATION ORDERS) (JERSEY) LAW 1994
____________
1.
Interpretation
2.
Compensation orders against
convicted persons
3.
Powers of the court
4.
Payment of compensation
orders
5.
Default and enforcement
6.
Appeals
7.
Review of compensation
orders
8.
Effect of compensation order
on subsequent award of damages in civil proceedings
9.
Amendments and repeal
10. Citation and commencement
A LAW to make new provision to empower the courts to order the payment
of compensation by persons convicted of crime and for connected purposes,
sanctioned by Order of Her Majesty in Council of the
8th day of FEBRUARY
1994
____________
(Registered on the 22nd
day of April 1994)
____________
STATES OF JERSEY
____________
The 24th day of August 1993
____________
THE
STATES, subject to
the sanction of Her Most Excellent Majesty in Council, have adopted the
following Law –
ARTICLE 1
Interpretation
(1) In
this Law –
“compensation
order” has the meaning given by paragraph (1) of Article 2;
“default
sentence” has the meaning given by sub-paragraph (c) of paragraph (1) of
Article 3; and
“the
Juvenile Court” means the Juvenile Court established under the Children
(Jersey) Law 1969.
(2) A
reference in this Law to an Article by number only and without further
identification, is a reference to the Article of that number in this Law.
(3) A
reference in an Article or other division of this Law to a paragraph or
sub-paragraph by number or letter only and without further identification is a
reference to the paragraph or sub-paragraph of that number or letter contained
in the Article or other division in which that reference occurs.
(4) Unless
the context otherwise requires, where this Law refers to an enactment, the
reference is to that enactment as amended from time to time.
ARTICLE 2
Compensation
orders against convicted persons
(1) Subject
to the provisions of this Law, a court by or before which a person is convicted
of an offence, instead of or in addition to dealing with him in any other way,
may, on application or otherwise, make an order (in this Law referred to as a
“compensation order”) requiring him to pay compensation for any
personal injury, loss or damage resulting from that offence or to make payments
for funeral expenses in respect of a death resulting from any such offence,
other than a death due to an accident arising out of the presence of a vehicle
on a road.
(2) Subject
to paragraph (3), a compensation order shall be of such amount as the court
considers appropriate, having regard to any evidence and any representations
that are made by or on behalf of the offender, any person who appears to the
court to have suffered any personal injury, loss or damage resulting from the
offence for which the offender has been convicted or the Attorney General or
the Connétable in whose name the offender has
been presented before the court.
(3) The
compensation to be paid under a compensation order made by the Police Court or
the Juvenile Court in respect of any one offence shall not exceed two thousand
pounds or such other sum as shall have been fixed by the States by Regulations
made under this paragraph.
(4) In
the case of an offence of larceny or any other case involving the dishonest or
fraudulent deprivation of an owner of his property, where the property in
question is recovered, any damage to the property occurring while it was out of
the owner’s possession shall be treated for the purposes of paragraph (1)
as having resulted from that offence, however and by whomsoever the damage was
caused.
(5) A
compensation order may only be made in respect of injury, loss or damage (other
than loss suffered by a person’s dependants in consequence of his death)
which was due to an accident arising out of the presence of a motor vehicle on
a road, if –
(a) it is in respect of
damage which is treated by paragraph (4) as resulting from an offence of
larceny or any other offence involving the dishonest or fraudulent deprivation
of an owner of his property; or
(b) it is in respect of
injury, loss or damage as respects which –
(i) the
offender is uninsured in relation to the use of the vehicle; and
(ii) compensation is not
payable under any arrangement between the Defence
Committee and the Motor Insurers’ Bureau,
and, where a
compensation order is made in respect of injury loss or damage due to such an
accident, the amount ordered to be paid may include the whole or part of any
loss or reduction in preferential rates of insurance attributable to the
accident.
(6) A
compensation order in respect of funeral expenses may be made for the benefit
of anyone who has incurred the expenses.
ARTICLE 3
Powers
of the court
(1) Where
a court makes a compensation order it may –
(a) allow time for payment of
the amount due under the order;
(b) direct that the said
amount be paid by instalments of such amount and on
such dates as may be specified in the order;
(c) subject to paragraph
(2), fix a term of imprisonment (in this Law referred to as a “default
sentence”) which the person liable to make the payment is to undergo if
any sum which he is liable to pay is not duly paid or recovered.
(2) A
default sentence shall not exceed –
(a) in the case of an order
made by the Police Court or the Juvenile court or by the Royal Court on appeal
against a decision of the Police Court, six months; and
(b) in any other case,
twelve months.
(3) Where
any person liable to pay a compensation order is sentenced to, or is serving or
otherwise liable to serve a term of imprisonment, the court may order that a
default sentence shall not begin to run until after the end of the
first-mentioned term of imprisonment.
(4) Where
a court makes a compensation order against an offender under the age of
seventeen, the court may, and shall if the offender is under the age of
fourteen, order that the compensation order be paid, and any default sentence
be served, by the parent or guardian of the offender instead of the offender,
unless the court is satisfied that –
(a) the parent or guardian
cannot be found; or
(b) that it would be
unreasonable to make such an order having regard to the circumstances of the
case.
(5) In
determining whether to make a compensation order against any person, and in
determining the amount to be paid under such an order, the court shall have
regard to his means so far as they appear or are made known to the court.
(6) Where
the court considers that
(a) it would be appropriate
both to impose a fine and a compensation order; but
(b) the offender has
insufficient means to pay both an appropriate fine and appropriate
compensation, the court shall give preference to compensation (though it may
impose a fine as well).
ARTICLE 4
Payment
of compensation orders
(1) Subject
to paragraph (2) and Article 5, payment of a compensation order shall be made
to the Viscount, who shall give a receipt for the payment and shall remit the
payment to the person in whose favour the order was
made.
(2) A
person in whose favour a compensation order is made
shall not be entitled to receive the amount due to him until (disregarding any
power of a court to extend the time for making an appeal) there is no further
possibility of an appeal on which the order could be varied or set aside.
(3) Where
a court by or before which a person has been convicted of an offence has
ordered that person to pay a fine as well as a compensation order, the Viscount
shall, unless the court which made the order directs otherwise, apply any
monies received from that person firstly towards the payment of the compensation
order and only after the compensation order has been paid in full shall he
apply monies received from that person towards payment of the fine.
ARTICLE 5
Default
and enforcement
(1) Where
any default is made in the payment of a compensation order, the Viscount may
take the same proceedings for the enforcement of the order as he may take in
the case of a default in payment of a fine.
(2) Where
a compensation order is made allowing time for payment or directing payment by instalments, the Viscount shall not exercise his powers to
enforce payment until there is a default in complying with the order.
(3) Where
a compensation order is made directing payment by instalments
and default is made in the payment of any one instalment,
the same proceedings may be taken as if default had been made in payment of all
the instalments then remaining unpaid.
(4) Where
an order is made fixing a default sentence, then –
(a) on payment of the
amount ordered to be paid to the Viscount or, if the the
person in respect of whom the order was made is in prison, to the governor of
the prison, the order shall cease to have effect; and if the said person is in
prison and is not liable to be detained for any other cause, he shall forthwith
be released;
(b) on payment to the
Viscount or the governor of the prison of a part of the amount ordered to be
paid, the term of the default sentence shall be reduced by a number of days
bearing as nearly as possible the same proportion to the total number of days
in the said term as the sum paid bears to the amount ordered to be paid; and in
reckoning the number of days by which a term of imprisonment is to be reduced
under this sub-paragraph –
(i) the
first day of imprisonment; and
(ii) any fraction of a day
included in the reckoning; shall not be taken into account.
(5) Any
sums received by the governor of the prison under this Article shall forthwith
be paid by him to the Viscount.
ARTICLE 6
Appeals
(1) Without
prejudice to Article 24 of the Court of Appeal (Jersey) Law 1961, a person against whom a
compensation order has been made or a person who has been ordered under
paragraph (2) of Article 3 to pay compensation by the Royal Court may appeal to
the Court of Appeal against the order, including, a default sentence, whether
or not he also appeals against his conviction or the sentence imposed for the
offence in respect of which the order was made.
(2) Articles
25 to 28 of the Court of Appeal (Jersey) Law 1961 and 30 to 38 of that Law shall apply mutatis mutandis to an appeal under paragraph (1)
as they apply to an appeal under Article 24 of that Law.
(3) Without
prejudice to Article 14 of the Police Court (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Jersey)
Law 1949, a person against whom a
compensation order is made or a person who has been ordered under paragraph (2)
of Article 3 to pay compensation by the Police Court or the Juvenile court may
appeal to the Royal Court against the order, including a default sentence,
whether or not he also appeals against his conviction or the sentence imposed
for the offence in respect of which the order was made.
(4) Articles
15, 16 and 17 of the Police Court (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Jersey) Law 1949 shall apply mutatis mutandis to an appeal under paragraph
(3) as they apply to an appeal under Article 14 of that Law.
(5) Where
a notice of appeal or to obtain leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal against
a compensation order has been given within the time specified in paragraph (1)
of Article 30 of the Court of Appeal (Jersey) Law 1961 or the Court of Appeal has, pursuant
to paragraph (3) of that Article extended that time, the Viscount shall not
take any, or any further steps towards the enforcement of the order until after
the appeal has been abandoned or determined.
(6) Where
a notice of appeal against a compensation order to the Royal Court has been
lodged within the time specified in paragraph (1) of Article 15 of the Police
Court (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Jersey) Law 1949 or the Royal Court has, pursuant
to paragraph (3) of that Article, directed that a notice of appeal against such
an order shall be treated as if given within that period, the Viscount shall
not take any or any further steps towards the enforcement of the order until
after the appeal has been abandoned or determined.
ARTICLE 7
Review
of compensation orders
(1) At
any time before the person against whom a compensation order has been made has
paid to the Viscount the whole of the compensation which the order requires him
to pay, but at a time (disregarding any power of a court to grant leave to
appeal out of time) when there is no further possibility of an appeal on which
the order could be varied or set aside, the court which made the order may, on
the application of the person against whom it was made, discharge or reduce the
amount which remains to be paid if it appears to the court –
(a) that the injury, loss
or damage in respect of which the order was made has been held in civil
proceedings to be less than it was taken to be for the purposes of the order;
(b) in the case of an order
in respect of the loss of any property, that the property has been recovered by
the person in whose favour the order was made;
(c) that the person against
whom the order was made has suffered a substantial reduction in his means which
was unexpected at the time when the compensation order was made, and that his
means seem unlikely to increase for a substantial period.
(2) Where
a court varies or discharges a compensation order under this Article it shall
discharge or vary to a like extent any default sentence fixed by that order.
ARTICLE 8
Effect
of compensation order on subsequent award of damages in civil proceedings
(1) This
Article shall have effect where a compensation order has been made in favour of any person in respect of any injury, loss or
damage and a claim by him in civil proceedings for damages in respect of the
same injury, loss or damage subsequently falls to be determined.
(2) The
damages in the civil proceedings shall be assessed without regard to the
compensation order, but the plaintiff may only recover an amount equal to the
aggregate of the following –
(a) any amount by which
they exceed the compensation; and
(b) a sum equal to any
portion of the compensation which he fails to recover,
and may not
enforce the judgement, so far as it relates to a sum
such as is mentioned in sub-paragraph (b), without the leave of the court.
ARTICLE 9
Amendments
and repeal
(1) Paragraphs
(2), (3) and (4) of Article 2 of the “Loi
(1937) sur l’atténuation
des peines et sur la mise en liberté
surveillée” shall be repealed.
(2) Article
6 of the Police Court (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Jersey) Law 1949 shall be repealed.
ARTICLE 10
Citation
and commencement
This Law may be
cited as the Criminal Justice (Compensation Orders) (Jersey) Law 1994.
C.M. NEWCOMBE
Deputy Greffier of the States.