Bind over

Bind over

Bind over, Binding Over Order or Bind over for sentence is a legal term relating to a power exercised by magistrates in England and Wales and in other common law jurisdictions such as Hong Kong.

Magistrates can bind over to be of good behaviour or to keep the peace, any person such as a defendant, witness or complainant. This may happen where the case involves violence or the threat of it. Sometimes the prosecution will drop such a charge if the defendant agrees to be bound over in this way. No conviction is recorded if the matter is dealt with like this because such an order is regarded as a civil matter.

A magistrate has power to take measures to prevent a likely breach of the peace and, on evidence produced before him, may require a person, on pain of six months’ imprisonment on refusal, to enter into a recognizance and find sureties either to keep the peace or to be of good behaviour. The procedure is called ‘binding over to keep the peace’ and upon complaint by any person the magistrate may hear the complainant and the defendant and their witnesses, and if he deems fit may make the order.

Binding over is a precautionary measure to be adopted, when there is reasonable ground to anticipate some present or future danger. It is not a conviction or a punishment. It should not be applied for in respect of an act which is past and which is not likely to be repeated and should not be considered to be an alternative measure in those cases where the prosecution have insufficient evidence to substantiate a charge.

Applications to bind a person over may be made in a variety of circumstances e.g. minor assaults inside private premises where there are no truly independent witnesses, continuing domestic disputes, other minor cases where it is obvious that both parties are at fault with no other evidence to support either party in their counter-allegations, etc.


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  • bind over — vt 1: to put under a bond to do something (as appear in court) under court authority 2: to transfer (a case or defendant) to another forum after a finding of probable cause at a preliminary hearing ◇ In states that require indictment by a grand… …   Law dictionary

  • bind over — verb order a defendant to be placed in custody pending the outcome of a proceedings against him or her The defendant was bound over for trial • Topics: ↑law, ↑jurisprudence • Hypernyms: ↑confine, ↑detain • Verb Frames …   Useful english dictionary

  • bind over — phrasal verb [transitive, usually passive] Word forms bind over : present tense I/you/we/they bind over he/she/it binds over present participle binding over past tense bound over past participle bound over legal if a court binds someone over, it… …   English dictionary

  • bind over — v. (D; tr.) to bind over to (she was bound over to the grand jury) * * * [ baɪnd əʊvə] (D; tr.) to bind over to (she was bound over to the grand jury) …   Combinatory dictionary

  • bind over — PHRASAL VERB If someone is bound over by a court or a judge, they are given an order and must do as the order says for a particular period of time. [LEGAL] [be V ed P to inf] On many occasions demonstrators were bound over to keep the peace... [V …   English dictionary

  • bind over — See binding over …   Black's law dictionary

  • bind over — See binding over …   Black's law dictionary

  • To bind over — Bind Bind, v. t. [imp. {Bound}; p. p. {Bound}, formerly {Bounden}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Binding}.] [AS. bindan, perfect tense band, bundon, p. p. bunden; akin to D. & G. binden, Dan. binde, Sw. & Icel. binda, Goth. bindan, Skr. bandh (for bhandh) to… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • bind over — transitive verb Date: 1610 to put under a bond to do something (as appear in court) …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • bind over — court order to imprison the accused until the time of his trial (Law) …   English contemporary dictionary

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