Bill In Criminal Cases

Bill in criminal cases. Grand Juries were abolished by the (English) Administration of Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1933 (23 & 24 Geo. 5, c. 36), from 1st September, 1933, except in certain cases [s. 1 (9)]. S. 2 of the Act provides for the new procedure. Until this Act was passed the bill was an indictment of a crime or misdemeanour preferred to a grand jury; evidence in support of it was adduced; if the grand jury thought it a groundless accusation, they endorsed 'not a true bill,' or 'not found,' and then the party was discharged without further answer, but a fresh bill might afterwards be preferred to a subsequent grand jury. If they were satisfied of the truth of the accusation, they then endorsed upon it 'a true bill'; the indictment was then said to be found and the party stood his trial.