No person shall suffer death for murder and a person convicted of murder shall, subject to section 73(1) of the M5Children and Young Persons Act (Northern Ireland) 1968 (detention of young persons during pleasure), be sentenced to imprisonment for life.

On sentencing any person convicted of murder to imprisonment for life the court may at the same time declare the period which they recommend to the F18Secretary of State as the minimum period which in their view should elapse before the F18Secretary of State orders the release of that person on licence under section 23 of the M6Prison Act (Northern Ireland) 1953.

F18The Secretary of State shall not release or discharge on licence a person convicted of murder and serving a sentence of imprisonment for life or detained under the said section 73(1), except after consultation with the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland together with the trial judge, if available.

For the purpose of any proceedings on or subsequent to a person’s trial on a charge of capital murder, that charge and any plea or finding of guilty of capital murder shall be treated as being or having been a charge, or a plea or finding of guilty, of murder only; and if at the commencement of this Act a person is under a sentence of death for capital murder, the sentence shall have effect as a sentence of imprisonment for life.

In this section “capital murder” means a murder which immediately before the commencement of this Act is a capital murder within the meaning of section 10 of the M7Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1966.

Neither an order under section 51(1)(a) of the Children and Young Persons Act (Northern Ireland) 1968 (order for committal of a child or young person to a remand home) nor a training school order within the meaning of that Act shall specify the remand home or training school to which the person to whom it relates is to be sent.

After the said section 51(1)(a) there shall be inserted the following subsection— “ (1A) An order for committal under subsection (1)(a) shall be authorityfor the detention of the person to whom it relates in any remand homeand the remand home in which he is to be detained at any time shall bedetermined by the Ministry ”.

In section 53(2) of the said Act of 1968 (report as to circumstancesof child or young person and as to available training schools) for theword “available”, in the second place where it occurs, there shall besubstituted the words “the availability of accommodation at”.

After section 85(1) of that Act (training school orders) there shallbe inserted the following subsections—

After setion 132(4) of the said Act of 1968 (power to make rules aboutremand homes) there shall be inserted the following subsections— “ (4A) Rules under subsection (4) may also make provision whereby aperson in custody in a remand home may be temporarily released or mayon the ground of his industry and good conduct be granted suchremission as may be prescribed by the rules.(4B) On the deischarge of a person from a remand home in pursuance ofremission granted under any such rules, the order for his committal tothe remand home shall cease to have effect. ”

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F5

In section 4 of the M1Criminal Injuries to Persons (Compensation) Act (Northern Ireland) 1968 (assessment of compensation) and in the M2Criminal Injuries to Property (Compensation) Act (Northern Ireland) 1971, in their application to an injury or damage caused by an act committed while this section is in force, “unlawful association” includes a proscribed organisation.

In this Act, except so far as the context otherwise requires—

• . . . F10

• “enactment” includes an enactment of the Parliament of Northern Ireland;

• . . . F10

Any reference in this Act, except so far as the context otherwise requires, to an enactment shall be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended, applied or extended by or under any other enactment, including this Act.

Any reference in this Act to an enactment of the Parliament of Northern Ireland or to an enactment which that Parliament has power to amend shall be construed as including a reference to any enactment of the Parliament of Northern Ireland passed after this Act and re–enacting the said enactment with or without modifications.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F12

The coming into force of any of the following provisions of this Act, that is to say, sections 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7, . . . F13 on the commencement of this Act . . . F13, shall not affect any trial on indictment where the indictment has been presented, or any summary trial which has started, before the coming into force of that provision, and any such trial shall be conducted as if the provision had not come into force.

Where before the coming into force of section 4(1) above, . . . F13 on the commencement of this Act . . . F13, a person has been committed for trial for a scheduled offence and the indictment has not been presented, then, on the coming into force of that subsection, he F14shall, if he was committed to a county court or to a court of assize other than the Belfast City Commission, be treated as having been committed to that Commission.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F12

This Act may be cited as the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1973.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F15

Section 38 of the M3Interpretation Act 1889 (effect of repeals) shall apply to the repeal by this Act of any Act or enactment of the Parliament of Northern Ireland and to the cesser of any order or regulations made under any enactment repealed by this Act as it applies to the repeal of any Act or enactment of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F15

The repeal by this Act of section 1 of the Offences against the M4Person Act 1861 shall not affect the operation of sections 64, 65, and 68 of that Act which shall continue to apply in relation to murder as if this Act had not been passed.

This Act shall extend to Northern Ireland only.