Commentary on Sections Part 7 : Trials on Indictment Without a Jury Section 48: Further provision about trials without a jury
260.These provisions ensure that, where a court orders a trial to be conducted (under sections 43, 44 or 46(5)) or continued (under section 46(3)) without a jury, the trial will proceed in the usual way, except that the functions which would otherwise have been performed by a jury can be fully performed by the judge sitting alone, with suitable allowance for the obvious requirements of the change of context.
261.Where a trial is conducted or continued without a jury, and a defendant is convicted, subsection (5)(a) requires the court to give its reasons for the conviction.
262.Subsection (6) provides that the functions of a jury in determining fitness to plead are unchanged.