|
|
Forms of informations, convictions.
|
223. All informations exhibited before any justice for any offence committed against or forfeiture incurred under this or any other Act relating to the Customs, and all summonses convictions and condemnations for such offences and forfeitures, and all warrants of any justice founded upon such convictions, may be in the form or to the effect in Schedule C. to this Act; and the form of information given in the said schedule, and the counts therein contained with reference to any offences created by or punishable under the several sections of this Act to which the same or any of them relate, shall be applicable to and sufficient for all purposes in the prosecution of such offences and forfeitures; and where two or more counts are given upon the same section those counts may be used which apply most nearly to the circumstances of the case; and any one or more of the said counts may be included in the same information, together with any other count or counts; and any one or more of the words or paragraphs descriptive of offences charged in any one or more of the counts in the same form of information, separated from the others by the word or in italics, may be used exclusively of the others, in conjunction with any other part of such form, and in any case, or for any offence or forfeiture for which no count is given in the said schedule, such count or counts may be substituted or added as circumstances may require and every such information and every conviction and warrant of commitment or condemnation for such offence or forfeiture shall be deemed valid and sufficient in which the offence or forfeiture is set forth either in the words of the Act or Acts by which the penalty for such offence has been inflicted or under which any forfeiture has been incurred, or in the words of the information by this Act prescribed; and where in any such forms the word “Customs” is used to describe the Commissioners or officers of Customs, the words “Inland Revenue” or “Excise” may be substituted, as the case may require, and the like counts shall be applicable to and sufficient for the like purposes, and be used in like manner in any information filed in any court having jurisdiction in such cases under this or any Act relating to the Customs; and no conviction warrant or commitment, or condemnation shall be held void by reason of any defect therein; and no party shall be entitled to be discharged out of custody on account of such defect, provided it be alleged in such warrant that the said party has been convicted of such offence, and that it shall appear to the court or judge before whom such warrant is returned that such conviction proceeded upon good and valid grounds; and every such warrant may be executed by any officer of Customs, and in any part of the United Kingdom, without further endorsement or sanction than that of the justice issuing the same; and no objection shall be taken or allowed to any information complaint or summons for any alleged defect therein in substance or in form, or for any variance between such information, complaint, or summons and the evidence adduced on the part of the informant or complainant at the hearing of such information or complaint.
|
