### District Court Ordinance 《區域法院條例》

79. Procedure and practice of the Court in its criminal jurisdiction
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Ordinance and as may be prescribed, the procedure and practice for the time being in force in the Court of First Instance in relation to criminal proceedings therein shall, so far as the same may be applicable, be followed as nearly as may be in criminal proceedings in the Court; and where it is necessary for the purpose of rendering such procedure and practice conveniently applicable, “indictment” and “count” shall be understood to refer to “charge sheet” and “charge” respectively. (Amended 21 of 1962 s. 15; 25 of 1998 s. 2)
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1), none of the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance (Cap. 221) in Part 1 of Schedule 2 particularized shall be applied to proceedings in the Court. (Amended 21 of 1962 s. 15)
(3) The special provisions contained in Part 2 of Schedule 2 touching the procedure and practice of the Court in the exercise of its criminal jurisdiction shall be applied to criminal proceedings in the Court where the circumstances of such proceedings require their application. (Amended 21 of 1962 s. 15)
(4) Where any provision of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance (Cap. 221) is applicable to criminal proceedings in the Court, such provision shall be read with such verbal alterations and modifications not affecting its substance as are necessary to render it conveniently applicable; and in particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the aforesaid, any such provision relating to a “jury” or a “verdict of a jury” shall be understood to refer to a judge and the functions of a judge as a judge of fact. (Amended 21 of 1962 s. 15; 63 of 1971 s. 13)
(5) Nothing in this section shall be taken to authorize—
(a) the institution of any criminal proceedings in the Court save in accordance with the express provisions of this Part; or (Amended 21 of 1962 s. 15)
(b) trial by jury in any criminal proceedings instituted under the provisions of this Part.
(1 of 1953 s. 29 incorporated. Amended E.R. 1 of 2013)

### District Court Ordinance 《區域法院條例》

79A. Plea by corporation
(1) Where an accused person is a corporation, a plea in writing may be entered by its representative, and if either the corporation does not appear by a representative or, though it does so appear, fails to enter any plea, the Court shall order a plea of not guilty to be entered and the trial shall proceed as though the corporation had duly entered a plea of not guilty.
(2) In this section, representative (代表) means a person duly appointed by a corporation to represent it for the purpose of doing any act or thing which the representative of a corporation is by this section authorized to do, but a person shall not, by virtue only of being so appointed, be qualified to act on behalf of the corporation before any court for any other purpose. A representative for the purposes of this section need not be appointed under the seal of the corporation, and a statement in writing purporting to be signed by a managing director of the corporation, or by any person (by whatever name called) having, or being one of the persons having, the management of the affairs of the corporation, to the effect that the person named in the statement has been appointed as the representative of the corporation for the purposes of this section shall be admissible without further proof as prima facie evidence that the person has been so appointed.
(Added 24 of 1976 s. 3)

### District Court Ordinance 《區域法院條例》

80. Verdict
(1) The verdict and any sentence shall be delivered orally and be recorded in writing at the time of that delivery.
(2) The reasons for the verdict must be delivered—
(a) together with the verdict; and 
(b) either orally or in writing. (Replaced 20 of 2014 s. 6)
(3) The reasons for any sentence must be delivered—
(a) together with the sentence; and 
(b) orally. (Added 20 of 2014 s. 6)
(4) Reasons delivered orally under subsection (2) or (3) must be reduced to writing within 21 days after the hearing or the trial. (Added 20 of 2014 s. 6) 
(5) The reasons reduced to writing must be signed by the judge. (Added 20 of 2014 s. 6)
(6) For reasons delivered in writing under subsection (2) or reasons reduced to writing under subsection (4), the Court must—
(a) deliver a copy of the reasons to each of the parties; 
(b) lodge a copy of the reasons in the High Court Library;
(c) make a copy of the reasons available for public inspection in the Registry of the Court; and
(d) make a copy of the reasons available to the public through the Internet. (Added 20 of 2014 s. 6)
(Replaced 1 of 1993 s. 5)

81. Court may take into consideration outstanding offences on application of accused and consent of prosecution
(1) Where an accused person is convicted of an offence, the Court may, on the application of the person convicted and with the consent of the prosecution, in passing sentence on such person take into consideration any other offence of a similar nature which the convicted person admits having committed and which he desires the Court to deal with.
(2) Under subsection (1) the Court may take into consideration any indictable offence not included in any of the categories specified in Part III of the Second Schedule to the Magistrates Ordinance (Cap. 227) and, notwithstanding the provisions of this or any other Ordinance, any offence triable summarily only.
(Added 25 of 1972 s. 4)