An important deadline for police to meet, and for people charged
to look out for, is the date charges must be laid by. If police
miss the deadline, the accused person has the defence that the
charges are statute barred and therefore they cannot be
prosecuted.
A common piece of legal jargon is 'statute of
limitations' – this is how it applies in criminal law.
The term statute refers to a piece of legislation written by
parliament. The relevant statute here that contains the limitations
is the
Criminal Procedure Act 2009.
Not all charges have such a deadline.
Summary Offences
Summary offences are generally defined as being less serious
sorts of matters, for example drink driving, unlawful assault,
resisting police etc. For summary offences, the rule generally
speaking is that police have 12 months from the date of the alleged
offending to lay the charges. Laying charges involves filing them
with the court and ensuring they are properly served on the
accused.
