A notice was served in 1983 under section 58 of the Control of Pollution Act 1974 requiring the abatement of a noise nuisance. That section was repealed by the Environmental Protection Act 1990, with effect from 1st January 1991, and a new procedure for statutory nuisance was substituted. On 25th January 1992, an information was preferred alleging recurrence of a noise nuisance between August and October 1991, contrary to section 58 of the 1974 Act.
Held: A Noise abatement Notice remained valid as a basis for a prosecution even after the repeal of the section in Act under which it had been issued. The ability to enforce the obligation was preserved by section 16(1) of the Interpretation Act 1978.
The words ‘obligation’ and ‘liability’ embraced both civil and criminal obligation or liability: ‘ . . although the application of section 16(1)(d) is confined to the criminal field, I do not consider that this means that the words ‘obligation or liability’ referred to in section 16(1)(c) have to be regarded as being restricted to a civil obligation or liability. The words remain appropriate to cover an obligation or liability enforceable under the criminal law. While a ‘right’ and ‘privilege,’ which are also referred to in section 16(1)(c), have a distinctly civil flavour, this is not equally true of ‘obligation’ and ‘liability.’ It is perfectly possible for the same enactment to create an obligation or a liability which is both enforceable in a civil action, by a claim for damages, and by a criminal sanction. It would be strange if, in that situation, section 16(1) could preserve the obligation or liability so far as it was enforceable in a civil action, but not so far as it was enforceable in criminal proceedings. To my mind the important question is whether there is an obligation or liability rather than how that obligation or liability is enforced. The question of enforcement is dealt with in section 16(1)(e) and that provision clearly applies equally to civil and criminal enforcement.’
Citations:
Gazette 07-Oct-1994, Times 08-Jul-1994, Independent 13-Jul-1994, [1995] 1 AC 262
Statutes:
Control of Pollution Act 1974 58(1), Environmental Protection Act 1990
Cited by:
Cited – Tael One Partners Ltd v Morgan Stanley and Co International Plc SC 11-Mar-2015
This appeal raises a question of contractual interpretation. Its significance lies in the fact that the contractual condition in question forms part of the Loan Market Association standard terms and conditions for par trade transactions which are a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Environment
Updated: 10 May 2022; Ref: scu.77697