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	Statutes of Northern Ireland
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REHABILITATION OF OFFENDERS (NORTHERN IRELAND) ORDER 1978

REHABILITATION OF OFFENDERS (NORTHERN IRELAND) ORDER 1978 - LONG
TITLE

[20th December 1978]N Title and commencement A> 1. This Order may
be cited as the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Northern Ireland) Order
1978 . . . Commencement . . . N Interpretation
[{2}or, <1979 c.37   in any proceedings arising out of any such decision of the Bank of England as is referred to in section 11(1) of the Banking Act 1979|, including proceedings on appeal to any court.] B>(3) If at any stage in any proceedings before a judicial
authority in Northern Ireland (not being proceedings to which, by
virtue of paragraph (2) or of any order for the time being in
force under paragraph (4), Article 5(1) has no application, or
proceedings to which Article 9 applies) the authority is satisfied,
in the light of any considerations which appear to it to be
relevant (including any evidence which has been or may thereafter be
put before it), that justice cannot be done in the case except by
admitting or requiring evidence relating to a person's spent
convictions or to circumstances ancillary thereto, that authority may
admit or, as the case may be, require the evidence in question
notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (1) of Article 5, and
may determine any issue to which the evidence relates in disregard,
so far as necessary, of those provisions. B>(4) The Secretary of
State may by order exclude the application of Article 5(1) in
relation to any proceedings specified in the order (other than
proceedings to which Article 9 applies) to such extent and for such
purposes as may be so specified. B>(5) No order made by a court
with respect to any person otherwise than on a conviction shall be
included in any list or statement of that person's previous
convictions given or made to any court which is considering how to
deal with him in respect of any offence. B Defamation actions A>
9. (1) This Article applies to any action for libel or slander
begun after the commencement of this Article by a rehabilitated
person and founded upon the publication of any matter imputing that
the plaintiff has committed or been charged with or prosecuted for
or convicted of or sentenced for an offence which was the subject
of a spent conviction. B>(2) Nothing in Article 5(1) shall affect
an action to which this Article applies where the publication
complained of took place before the conviction in question became
spent, and the following provisions of this Article shall not apply
in any such case. B>(3) Subject to paragraphs (5) and (6), nothing
in Article 5(1) shall prevent the defendant in an action to which
this Article applies from relying on any defence of justification or
fair comment or of absolute or qualified privilege which is
available to him, or restrict the matters he may establish in
support of any such defence. B>(4) Without prejudice to the
generality of paragraph (3), where in any such action malice is
alleged against a defendant who is relying on a defence of
qualified privilege, nothing in Article 5(1) shall restrict the
matters he may establish in rebuttal of the allegation. B>(5) A
defendant in any such action shall not by virtue of paragraph (3)
be entitled to rely upon the defence of justification if the
publication is proved to have been made with malice. <1888 c.64 $$#

SHOPS (NORTHERN IRELAND) ORDER 1978