​Crown Court Bench Book

This is the third edition of Crown Court Bench Book.  You can download the Crown Court Bench book as a PDF file (554 KB) or you can download the Crown Court Bench book as a Microsoft Word file (917 KB).

The origin of this Bench Book may be said to lie in a collection of specimen charges to juries in criminal cases prepared more than thirty years ago by Lord Lowry LCJ and widely used by the judges of the Crown Court, although developments in the criminal law since then meant that in many instances these specimen charges required extensive revision. In England the Judicial Studies Board recognised the need to provide a collection of specimen directions for the use of judges, and the first edition was published in 1984. The English specimen directions covered a wider range of issues than the specimen charges drawn up by Lord Lowry, and have been revised and expanded in succeeding years to reflect the many changes in the criminal law that have occurred since the first edition. 

In the 1990s the Judicial Studies Board for Northern Ireland felt that it might be helpful to the judges of the Crown Court in Northern Ireland were the opportunity taken to revise the specimen charges prepared by Lord Lowry, and to adapt the English specimen directions where appropriate to reflect differences between the law in Northern Ireland and England and Wales. This is the Third Edition of the Northern Ireland Specimen Directions.

As in the First and Second editions the specimen directions contained in this Bench Book are therefore largely based upon the specimen directions prepared by the Judicial Studies Board, and the compilers and the Judicial Studies Board for Northern Ireland gratefully acknowledge the permission readily given by the Judicial Studies Board to make use of its material.  As before the opportunity has been taken to incorporate some additional material in the form of the provisions of the Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1988 (as amended), and the Practice Direction issued by the Lord Chief Justice under Article 4 of the Order.  In addition, a number of specimen directions covering those criminal offences most frequently encountered in practice have been prepared and are included, several of which have no equivalent in the English specimen directions.

The following observations by Lord Lane CJ in his foreword to the 1984 edition of the English specimen directions are worthy of repetition. 

"They are not intended as a substitute for the careful preparation which every summing up requires.  They are not intended to limit the freedom of the trial judge to direct the jury as he thinks fit – providing he does so in accordance with the law.

The directions will often require adaptation to the circumstances of a particular case.  They should not be regarded as a magic formula to be pronounced like an incantation.

They are not intended, it should be emphasised, to offer solution to vexed questions of law.  Indeed, where the law is uncertain no specimen direction is provided."

It is intended that as appropriate additional or revised specimen directions will be issued by the Board and any suggestions for corrections or improvements will be most welcome, and should be sent to the Secretary to the Judicial Studies Board.

Each specimen direction is headed by a description and date. “New” means that the direction is a new one, “Revised” means that the previous direction has been extensively revised, whilst “Updated” means that the previous direction has only been altered by updating the references to Archbold and Blackstone. The date refers to the date upon which each direction was prepared.