Legal references

1. These are a number of legal publications that are relied upon in court as a matter of course. Evidence and procedure in the magistrates' courts are dealt with in "Stones Justices' Manual" (Stones), whilst criminal procedure with more emphasis on proceedings in the Crown Court is contained in "Archbold, Criminal Pleading, Evidence and Practice". "Blackstone's Criminal Practice" covers both the magistrate's court and the Crown Court. These three publications are published annually, and care must be exercised if referring to any other than the current edition.

2. Health and safety law is dealt with in 'Halsbury's Laws of England' and other more specialised publications such as `Hendy & Ford, "Redgraves Health and Safety "' and 'Daintith and Willoughby, "United Kingdom Oil and Gas Law"'. These are regarded as books of authority and the views expressed in them are likely to be accepted in the magistrates' court.

3. If having referred to these sources, you feel the law is unclear, further legal advice should be sought from the appropriate Legal Liaison contact points.