Commentary on Sections Part 4 - Miscellaneous and General Section 19 - First diet in sheriff court solemn proceedings: witnesses and bail
159.Section 19 amends section 71 of the 1995 Act by inserting a new subsection (1C) which requires the sheriff court at a first diet to ascertain which of the witnesses on the list of Crown witnesses are required by the prosecutor and the accused to attend the trial. Where the accused is on bail the court is required to review the conditions of bail and after hearing parties may, if it considers it appropriate, fix bail on different conditions.
160.The section also makes consequential amendments to subsections (2) and (3) of section 71 to incorporate reference to the new subsection (1C). It replicates for the sheriff court first diet provisions made for preliminary hearings in the High Court in new sections 72 and 72A of the 1995 Act as inserted by section 1 of this Act.