Expert: Philip Sweeting - 7/18/2004

Question
Hi philip,
         I saw a rather confusing thing in the paper today saying that a gang member had been remanded on bail. Now, I have always believed that remanded meant detained or held under arrest and "on bail" meant set free pending a court appearance (for a price). I am confused that this means both imprisoned and set free !

           Thanks in advance for your help,
             Scott.  

Answer
Remand is a legal term used by the courts which is made up of attorneys who like to use words only they can understand.
Remand means sent back. Court cases are often remanded(returned)from a higher court back to a lower court.

In the incident you are talking about it sounds like the gang member's bail was revoked and he was sent back to jail to await trial. In otherwords he was out on bail and he must have done something to cause the court to send him back to jail. He may have broken the law while out on bail or threatened someone, etc. It does not take much for someone out on bail to be sent back to jail if they violate the terms set by the court. As a condition of bail the court may require that you are home at a certain time or you don't associate with certain individuals such as gang members. If you do and they find out back to jail you go. Hope this helps.