What does laying of information mean?

Answer 1

There are two ways in which criminal proceedings can be initiated, namely: (a) The laying of information ensuring the accused's presence before a magistrates' court resulting from an arrest warrant or a summons. (b) An arrest without warrant and a subsequent charge. A laying of information must be carried out before the issue of either a warrant of arrest or a summons. Any information, submitted to a Justice of the Peace (JP) or the Clerk to the Justices, leading to the issue of an arrest warrant or summons, must be in writing and must include information on the statute infringed and the nature of the charge. This is the text book version. In simple terms I believe this means that before a warant is issued for someones arrest or court summons the information about the offence must be presented to initiate criminal proceedings. That is if they have not already been arrested (point b above). Hope this helps, Demelza