Section 42 Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) Lagos

Section 42 Administration of Criminal Justice (Repeal and Re-enactment) Law (ACJL) Lagos 2011, Laws of Lagos State, 2021, is about Inquiry as to truth of information. It provides as follows:

(1) When an Order under section 37 has been read or explained under section 38 to a person in Court, or when any person appears or is brought before a Magistrate pursuant to a summons or warrant issued under section 39, the Magistrate shall proceed to inquire into the truth of the information upon which
the action has been taken, and to take further evidence as may appear necessary.

(2) Such inquiry shall be made, as nearly as may be practicable, in the manner prescribed under this Law for conducting trials and recording evidence in trials before Magistrates’ Courts.

(3) Pending the completion of the inquiry under subsection (1), the Magistrate, if he considers that immediate measures are necessary for the prevention of a breach of the peace or disturbance of public peace or the commission of an offence or for public safety, may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, direct the person in respect of whom the order under section 37 has been made to enter into a recognisance, with or without sureties, for keeping the peace or maintaining good behaviour until the conclusion of the inquiry, and may detain him in custody until the recognisance is entered into or, in default of execution, until the inquiry is concluded:

Provided that—
(a) no person against whom proceedings are being taken under section 34 shall be directed to enter into a recognisance for maintaining good behaviour; and

(b) the conditions of such recognisance, whether as to the amount or as to the provisions of sureties or the number thereof or the pecuniary extent of their liability shall not be more onerous than those specified in the order under section 37; and

(c) no person shall be remanded in custody under the powers conferred by this section for a period exceeding fifteen (15) days at a time.

(4) For the purposes of this section, the fact that a person comes within the provisions of section 36 may be proved by evidence of general repute or otherwise.

(5) Where two or more persons have been associated together in the matter under inquiry, they may be dealt with in the same or separate inquiries as the Magistrate thinks fit.

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