Part 3: Investigations, legal proceedings etc. and release of prisoners Civil proceedings, inquests and police complaints Section 46: Interim custody orders: validity
This section and section 47 make provision in relation to "interim custody orders". These were orders made under Article 4 of the Detention of Terrorists (Northern Ireland) Order 1972 or a similar power under paragraph 11 of Schedule 1 the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1973 (referred to as the "order-making functions" in this section). In R v Adams [2020] UKSC 19, the Supreme Court found that an interim custody order made under Article 4 of the 1972 Order was invalid because the power to make the order had not been exercised by the Secretary of State personally.
	Subsection (2) reverses the decision of the Supreme Court in R v Adams by providing that the relevant order-making functions are to be treated as always having been exercisable by authorised Ministers of the Crown as well as by the Secretary of State. Subsections (3) and (4) clarify certain of the effects of subsection (2) by providing, respectively, that an interim custody order is not to be regarded as ever having been unlawful, and that the detention of a person under the authority of such an order regarded is not to be regarded as ever having been unlawful, just because an authorised Minister of the Crown exercised any of the order-making functions in relation to the order. Subsection (5) clarifies that the effect of subsection (2) is not limited by subsections (3) and (4).
	Subsection (6) provides that this section and section 47 only apply where the exercise of the order-making functions was conduct forming part of the Troubles, reflecting the scope of the Act. (Under section 1(2), conduct forming part of the Troubles includes any conduct during the period 1 January 1966 – 10 April 1998 which was conduct connected with preventing, investigating, or otherwise dealing with the consequences of, any other event or conduct relating to Northern Ireland affairs.). Subsection (6) also provides that any exercise of an of the order-making functions is to be assumed to have been conduct forming part of the Troubles unless the contrary is shown. Subsection (7) defines key terms used in this section and in section 47, including "order-making functions", "authorised Minister of the Crown" and "interim custody order".