Vexatious Indictments Act, 1859

No Indictment for Offences herein-named to be preferred without previous Authorization.

14 & 15 Vict. c. 100.

I. After the First Day of September One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, no Bill of Indictment for any of the Offences following, viz.

Perjury,

Subornation of Perjury,

Conspiracy,

Obtaining Money or other Property by false Pretences,

Keeping a Gambling House,

Keeping a disorderly House, and

Any indecent Assault,

shall be presented to or found by any Grand Jury, unless the Prosecutor or other Person presenting such Indictment has been bound by Recognizance to prosecute or give Evidence against the Person accused of such Offence, or unless the Person accused has been committed to or detained in Custody, or has been bound by Recognizance to appear to answer to an Indictment to be preferred against him for such Offence, or unless such Indictment for such Offence, if charged to have been committed in England, be preferred by the Direction or with the Consent in Writing of a Judge of One of the Superior Courts of Law at Westminster, or of Her Majesty’s Attorney General or Solicitor General for England, or unless such Indictment for such Offence, if charged to have been committed in Ireland, be preferred by the Direction or with the Consent in Writing of a Judge of One of the Superior Courts of Law in Dublin, or of Her Majesty’s Attorney General or Solicitor General for Ireland, or (in the Case of an Indictment for Perjury) by the Direction of any Court, Judge, or public Functionary authorized by an Act of the Session holden in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Years of Her Majesty, Chapter One hundred, to direct a Prosecution for Perjury.