The written charge and requisition procedure is not available in private prosecutions, which are instead commenced by making an application to the magistrates’ court for the issue of a summons (historically known as ‘laying an information’). The Application provides a magistrate with a summary of the case in writing – it sets out the offences alleged, identifies legislation relating to those offences, and sets out the prosecution’s case. Part 7 of the Criminal Procedure Rules contains rules about how the prosecutor must start a case and how the prosecutor must explain what the defendant is accused of doing.
