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Crime
The Court of Appeal (Lord Justice Widgery, Lord
Justice Cross and Mr. Justice Brabin) certified that a
point of law of general public importance was involved in
their decision quashing the conviction of Dharam Singh
Bhagwan
(The Times,
February 18). The appellant, a
citizen of India, had been convicted of "conspiracy to
evade
the control" on
immigration
imposed by
the
Commonwealth
Immigrants Act,
1962.
The
point
certified was: "Whether an indictment for conspiracy
will
lie against a Commonwealth immigrant who,
in
combination with others, entered the United Kingdom
between 1962 and 1968 by evading examination by an
immigration officer and a medical examination and with
out holding an employment voucher".
Regina v. Bhagwan, Q.B.D. 23/2/'70.
If consecutive sentences of not more than six months'
imprisonment each are imposed they must be suspended,
the Court held when it allowed an appeal by Raymond
March against two consecutive sentences of six months
and
two concurrent sentences of
three months, and
ordered that each sentence should be suspended for two
years.
Regina v. March. Court of Appeal 23/3/'70.
The Divisional Court dismissed an appeal by
the
North Western Gas Board against their conviction by
Warrington justices on a charge that when offering to
supply gas fires, they gave a written indication likely
to be taken as an indication that the goods were being
offered at a price £3 less than that at which they were
in fact being offered, contrary to sections 11(2) and 18
of the Trade Descriptrons Act, 1968.
North Western Gas Board v. Aspden.
The Lord Chief Justice, sitting with Mr. Justice
Ashworth and Mr. Justice Donaldson in the Court of
Appeal, said that where there was a conflict of evidence
between police evidence ind the defendant's and one or
other was
lying, no words were
to be used
in
the
summing up which suggested that an acquittal would ruin
the careers of the police witnesses.
Regina v. Culvertson Court of Appeal 17/2/'70.
A car owner who did not intend to make a false
declaration when signing an application
for a new
vehicle excise licence without checking the particulars
his daughter had filled in on the form, was not guilty
of a charge of making a "declaration which
to his
knowledge was false" even though, if he had checked the
form, he would have known that one of the particulars
was false.
Bloomfield v. Williams Q.B.D. 24/2/70.
A partner can still be convicted of
the
theft of
partnership property under the Theft Act, 1968, even
though there is now no specific provision in its dealing
with partners, as in the Larceny Act,
'916, provided
that the ingredients of the offence are present.
Regina v. Bonner, Court of Appeal 24/2/70.
The Divisional Court held that if goods prepacked or
in a container marked with the quantity are found to be
less in quantity than that stated, retailers charged with
an offence contrary to section 24
(3) of the Weights
and Measures Act, 1963, can avail themselves of the
defence within section 26
(2)
if they prove that the
deficiency
is wholly attributable to factors for which
reasonable allowance has been made.
F. W. Woolworth & Co. Ltd. v. Gray, Q.B.D.
18/2/70.
A constable requiring a motorist to take a breath test
is presumed to be acting in good faith and reasonably
without negligence,
even
though
the manufacturers'
instructions for use of the breathalyser device are not
complied with, their Lordships stated when dismissing
a motorist's appeal against conviction for driving with
an excessive proportion of alcohol in his blood contrary
to section 1
(1) of the Road Safety Act, 1967.
The Court said that the prosecution did not have
initially to negative bad faith and negligence, but if the
points were raised by the defence they had to be re
butted, so that at the end of the day the burden of
proof was still with the prosecution.
Rendell v. Hooper, Q.B.D. 9/3/70.
Practice Note (England)
Where applications for
leave
to appeal are made
without arguable grounds, judges are to make wider use
of their discretionary power to direct that part of the
time the prisoner has spent in custody shall not count
towards his sentence. The object is to reduce the delays,
now unacceptable, caused by
the rapid rise
in
the
number of applications for leave, and to enable prompt
attention to be given to meritorious cases by deterring
the unmeritorious applications that stand in their way.
Damages
The Court upheld an award of damages
totalling
£46,650 to a mother of two young children who became
a quadriplegic after being injured in a car accident in
1967. The sum included an award to her husband for
future housekeeping expenses.
The appeal, on quantum only, was from the judgment
of Mr. Justice Shaw at Leicester Assizes last June, when
he awarded to Mrs. Patricia Fowler £39,450, being
£1,350 agreed special damage, £500 for loss of expec
tation of life, £9,600 for future nursing, £3,000 for the
cost
of moving house
to
a bungalow and making
necessary adaptations, and £25,000 for pain and suffer
ing and loss of amenity. The judge also awarded £7,200
to her husband, Mr. Brian Fowler, for housekeeping
appealed.
Fowler and Another v. Grace, C.A.—20/2/70.
Their Lordships dismissed an appeal by the defendant,
Mr. Gordon Smith, of Middlesex, from a decision of Mr.
Justice Melford Stevenson, last July, awarding the plain
tiff, Mr. James Jeffery, of Surrey, suing as the adminis
trator of his deceased wife, £5,200 damages for her
death in a road accident. Claims made by Mr. Jeffrey in
respect of his three infant children had been settled.
The defendant appealed on liability and on damages.
Jeffery v. Smith, Court of Appeal 10/3/70.
A man who at the age of 38 suffered brain damage
resulting in loss of amenities, including organic loss of
sexual potency and loss of taste and smell, had his
damages for those injuries increased from £3,000 to
£7,000, and damages for loss of future earnings put up
from £5,824 to £7,280. Lord Denning said that a man
could get damages for loss of consortium but a wife could
not; and where a man was rendered sexually impotent
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