Criminal Justice Act (with its many variations) is a stock short title used for legislation in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Canada relating to the criminal law (including both substantive and procedural aspects of that law). It tends to be used for Acts that do not have a single cohesive subject matter.
The Bill for an Act with this short title will have been known as a Criminal Justice Bill during its passage through Parliament.
Criminal Justice Acts may be a generic name either for legislation bearing that short title or for all legislation which relates to the criminal law. It is not a term of art.
See also Criminal Law Act and Criminal Law Amendment Act.
Famous quotes containing the words criminal, justice and/or act:
“The criminal is quite frequently not equal to his deed: he belittles and slanders it.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“I not deny
The jury, passing on the prisoner’s life,
May in the sworn twelve have a thief or two
Guiltier than him they try. What’s open made to justice,
That justice seizes.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“And this must be the prime of life . . . I blink,
As if at pain; for it is pain, to think
This pantomime
Of compensating act and counter-act,
Defeat and counterfeit, makes up, in fact,
My ablest time.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)