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The Indictments Act 1915 (5 & 6 Geo 5. c.90) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made significant changes to the law relating to indictments. The law relating to indictments evolved during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and became lengthy, confusing and highly technical to the point where some barristers specialised entirely in drawing up indictments. During the nineteenth century several Acts were passed by Parliament to correct this problem, but none were entirely successful. In 1913 Lord Haldane created a committee to draw up a draft bill reforming the law of indictments, which became the Indictments Act 1915. Coming into force on 1 April 1916, the Act established rules on how indictments are to be drafted, and provided methods to amend and alter faulty indictments in court. Most importantly it simplified the layout of indictments and provided a list of items it had to contain, such as "such particulars as may be necessary for giving reasonable information as to the nature of the charge."〔 While the Act has been significantly amended over the years, several sections are still in force, and the indictment rules given form the basis of the Indictment Rules 1971 (S.I. 1971/1253) which replace the Indictment Rules 1915 (S.R. & O. 1915/1235). ==Background== An indictment is a document formally accusing an individual of a criminal offence.〔Alexander (1916) p.236〕 Indictments have been used in English law from at least 1362,〔Alexander (1916) p.237〕 but the system was mainly developed during the seventeenth and eighteenth century. During this period indictments became lengthy, confusing and highly technical, firstly because of the large number of new criminal offences created and secondly because of the back-and-forth between counsel for the defence and the prosecution, one attempting to spot loopholes in the indictment and the other attempting to close them.〔Alexander (1916) p.238〕 A slight misspelling on the indictment rendered it invalid, and all errors were taken in favour of the prisoner.〔Winfield (2007) p.51〕 An additional contributory factor was that the indictments were drafted by clerks of assize who were only paid once per set of indictments - if the indictment was not valid they had to write a new one for free, and they therefore had a vested interest in making them as detailed and complex as possible to avoid subtle flaws.〔 By the turn of the twentieth century indictments were so complex that some barristers such as Archibald Bodkin had a practice specialising in writing them. The 19th century saw significant changes made to English criminal law in an attempt to simplify and modernise it, and Acts of Parliament reforming the law surrounding indictments were passed in 1826, 1828, 1848, 1849 and 1851. Only the Criminal Procedure Act 1851 dealt with indictments directly - the others simply amended the law around it - but it was not an unqualified success.J.F. Stephen wrote "In 1851 an Act was passed which went further in the way of removing technicalities but it did so by an enumeration of them so technical and minute that no one could possibly understand it who had not first acquainted himself with the technicalities which it was meant to abolish".〔 The Act did get rid of the idea that minor flaws in an indictment sunk it entirely, and Stephen later wrote that "a general impression has been produced that quibbles about indictments have come to an end".〔Alexander (1916) p.240〕 Nothing else was done to reform the law relating to indictments until the early 20th century. In 1913 Lord Haldane created a committee led by Mr Justice Avory to draft a bill reforming the law of indictments.〔Alexander (1916) p.241〕 The draft bill was finished and introduced to Parliament by 1915, and it was given the Royal Assent on 23 December 1915, coming into force on 1 April 1916 as the Indictments Act 1915.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Indictments Act 1915」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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