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Contract
Indemnities given to an employer by a main contractor
under the Institution of Civil Engineers' Conditions of
Contract and to the main contractor by a subcontractor
under a subcontract were held not to cover costs in
curred in defending an impecunious and legally aided
plaintiff's unsuccessful claim for damages for personal
injuries brought against all three parties.
[Richardson v. Buckinghamshire County Council and
Others. Court of Appeal.
The Times,
15 February, 1971.]
A sick and benevolent fund which had been totally
inactive for four years was held not to have been dis
solved. Nor are its assets distributable.
His Lordship was giving judgment on a summons
by persons having control of the William Denby and
Sons Ltd Sick and Benevolent Fund, asking inter alia,
whether the fund ought to be distributed and if so, to
whom. The defendants were Mr. James Wilks. a past
member who left the company in 1956; Mr. Clement
Hall, who left on October 30, 1963, when the fund first
became inactive; and Mr. Stanley Holmes, who is still
employed by the company.
[In Re William Denby and Sons Ltd. Sick and Benev
olent Fund. Ch. Div.
The Times, 2
March, 1971.]
Suppliers who compounded for mink breeders a feed
ing stuff to a formula supplied by the mink breeders but
which included herring meal affected by a preservative
so that it was toxic to mink as a result of which large
numbers died were, inter alia, in breach of the implied
term that the "gods" should be reasonably fit for the
purpose of feeding to mink under section 14 (1) of the
Sale of Goods Act, 1893.
Their Lordships so held,
though differing on
the
application of section 13 and 14 (2), when they allowed
an appeal by Ashington Piggeries Ltd. and Fur Farm
Suppliers Ltd., mink breeders, of Poole, Dorset, from the
decision of the Court of Appeal (Lord Justice Davies,
Lord Justice Russell and Lord Justice Megaw) in July,
1969, that they were liable to Christopher Hill Ltd. for
the price of a mink food known as "King Size".
[Ashington Piggeries Ltd. and Others v. Christopher
Hill Ltd. Christopher Hill Ltd., v. Norsildnel. House of
Lords.
The Times,
25 February, 1971.]
Costs
[See under Contract. Richardson v. Buckinghamshire
County Council and Others.]
Crime
Gypsies who "encamp' by the highway can only be
convicted under section 127 of the Highways Act, 1959,
for the actual setting up of the camp and not for the
continuation of the camp
[Smith v. Wood. Q.B.D.
The Times,
12 February,
1971.]
The Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by Robert
Baxter against conviction at Liverpool Crown Court
on three counts of attempting to obtain property by
deception.
The appellant, who was resident in Northern Ireland,
posted letters in Northern Ireland to Littlewoods and
Vernons, football pools promoters, in Liverpool, falsely
claiming that he had correctly forecast the results of
certain competitions and was entitled to the winnings.
[Regina v. Baxter. Court of Appeal.
The Times,
12
February, 1971.]
A person cannot be said to be driving a motor car
within the meaning of section 2(1) of the Road Safety
Act, 1967, when he has been effectively prevented from
so doing, their Lordships decided in allowing an appeal
by case stated by Henry Harman,
from his con
viction by Bishop's Stortford justices of driving a motor
vehicle with an excess proportion of alcohol in his
blood, contrary to section 1(1) of the Act.
[Harman V. Wardrop Q.B.D.
The Times,
12 February,
1971.]
The approach of cases involving section 11 of the
Civil Evidence Act, 1968, was considered by Mr. Justice
Stirling when giving judgment granting a decree nisi to
a wife who petitioned on the ground of rape.
The husband had been found guilty of rape at assizes
and had been sentenced to seven years' imprisonment.
Before, at and after the trial he had vigorously protested
innocence, claiming he had been wrongly identified at a
parade.
His Lordship
said
that
the wife, Mrs. Beryl
Wright, of Sudbury, Suffolk, had to make out her case
of rape. She relied on section 11(1) and (2), which not
only made the conviction evidence in subsequent civil
proceedings but had the effect that the husband must be
taken to have committed the offence unless the contrary
was proved; he undertook the burden of overthrowing
the conviction. The Court of Appeal had acepted that
he must satisfy such onus on the balance of probability.
[Wright v. Wright. Probate, Divorce and Admiralty
Div.
The Times,
15 February, 1971.]
When giving reasons for dismissing last November
two appeals against convictions for murder, their Lord
ships stated that there was no rule that, in cases of
murder where an issue of self-defence was left to the
jury that if they considered that excessive force had been
used in defence they should return a verdict of man
slaughter.
[Palmer v. The Queen. Irving v The Queen. Privy
Council.
The Times,
18 February, 1971.]
A company whose fuel store leaked a large quantity
of oil into the Severn, after an unauthorised person had
tampered with a valve, was held not to have caused
poisonous, noxious or polluting matter to enter the river
as the overwhelming cause of the pollution was the act
of a third party.
[Impress (Worcester) Ltd v. Rees. Q.B.D.
The Times,
19 February, 1971.]
Before Mr. Justice Fenton Atkinson, Mr. Justice Lyell
and Mr. Justice Mars-Jones. Two persons who had hin
dered the police by denying that they had seen two lorries
which they knew had been stolen had been rightly con
victed under section 3 (1) of the Criminal Law Act, 1967,
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