Chocolate manufacturers were to take all steps possible to prevent blades in sweets. It was not a question of resonable practicality.
Times 08-Mar-1995
England and Wales
Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.86649
(British Columbia) The court asked when a party to a joint enterprise may claim to have abandoned or withdrawn from that enterprise ‘Can it be said on the facts of this case that a mere change of mental intention and a quitting of the scene of the crime just immediately prior to the striking of the fatal blow will absolve those who participate in the commission of the crime by overt acts up to that moment from all the consequences of its accomplishment by the one who strikes in ignorance of his companion’s change of heart? I think not. After a crime has been committed and before a prior abandonment of the common enterprise may be found by a jury there must be, in my view, in the absence of exceptional circumstances, something more than a mere mental change of intention and physical change of place by those associates who wish to dissociate themselves from the consequences attendant upon their willing assistance up to the moment of the actual commission of that crime. I would not attempt to define too closely what must be done in criminal matters involving participation in a common unlawful purpose to break the chain of causation and responsibility. That must depend upon the circumstances of each case but it seems to me that one essential element ought to be established in a case of this kind: where practicable and reasonable there must be timely communication of the intention to abandon the common purpose from those who wish to dissociate themselves from the contemplated crime to those who desire to continue in it. What is ‘timely communication’ must be determined by the facts of each case but where practicable and reasonable it ought to be such communication, verbal or otherwise, that will serve unequivocal notice upon the other party to the common unlawful cause that if he proceeds upon it he does so without the further aid and assistance of those who withdraw. The unlawful purpose of him who continues alone is then his own and not one in common with those who are no longer parties to it nor liable to its full and final consequences.’
Sloan J A
[1941] 1 WWR 112, [1941] 1 DLR 683
Cited – Rex v Saunders and Archer 1573
Misdirected Poison remained Offence
A intended to kill his wife, and gave her a poisoned apple. She gave it her child who ate the apple and died. The defendant had not intended his daughter to eat the apple.
Held: A was guilty of the murder of his daughter, but his wife, who was . .
Explained – Regina v Mitchell and King CACD 16-Sep-1998
A defendant would sufficiently disassociate himself from a violent joint enterprise by communicating his withdrawal to the co-accused, only when the violent element was not pre-planned. Otherwise it was not sufficient merely to withdraw. . .
Cited – Regina v Derek William Bentley (Deceased) CACD 30-Jul-1998
The defendant had been convicted of murder in 1952, and hung. A court hearing an appeal after many years must apply laws from different eras to different aspects. The law of the offence (of murder) to be applied was that at the time of the offence. . .
Applied – Regina v Becerra and Cooper CACD 1975
The defendants sought leave to appeal against their convictions for a brutal and horrific murder. Becerra suggeste dtat he had wanted to withdraw from the event before the murder took place.
Held: The appeal failed: ‘ in the circumstances then . .
Applied – Regina v Whitefield 1984
The two accused agreed to break into a flat, but before entry was achieved, W said he withdrew. The other burgled the flat with another.
Held: The appeal was allowed. The judge was wrong to tell the jury that communication of his withdrawal to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.181236
Lord Salmon
[1974] 1 WLR 1090
England and Wales
Cited – Berthill Fox v Regina (1) PC 2-Oct-2001
(St Christopher and Nevis) On a trial for murder, the defendant had made an unsworn statement from the dock. The direction from the judge as to its value was challenged on appeal. Though there was some confusion, on balance it was acceptable. As to . .
Cited – Maye v The Queen PC 1-Jul-2008
(Jamaica) The defendant appealed his conviction for murder. He said that he had intervened in a fight between his girlfriend and her brother and that the deceased was killed in self defence. There had been three trials; two of the defendant and two . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.180942
Communal landings outside flats in a block do not form part of a home.
Times 09-Jun-1993
England and Wales
Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.88912
[1994] Crim LR 518
England and Wales
Cited – Regina v James, SJ CACD 4-Oct-1995
The defendant had been accused of dangerous driving. He entered a plea of guilty to driving without due care, but that was not acceptable to the prosecution. He was acquitted of the more serious charge and the judge purported to sentence him on the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.180897
(1986) 8 Cr App R (S) 270
England and Wales
Cited – Regina v White; Regina v McKinnon CACD 6-Dec-2002
The defendant had failed to surrender to custody, and appealed a consecutive sentence of six months.
Held: There was no reason why the sentences should not be consecutive. The case of Gorman should be confined to its own particular . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.180898
The defendant had ridden a motor-cycle and hit a pedestrian. The court asked whether he had been reckless.
Held: The House understood recklessness as ‘a state of mind stopping short of deliberate intention, and going beyond mere inadvertence’ and ‘It is for the jury to decide whether the risk created by the manner in which the vehicle was being driven was both obvious and serious and, in deciding this, they may apply the standard of the ordinary prudent motorist as represented by themselves. If satisfied that an obvious and serious risk was created by the manner of the defendant’s driving, the jury are entitled to infer that he was in one or other of the states of mind required to constitute the offence and will probably do so; but regard must be given to any explanation he gives as to his state of mind which may displace the inference.’
Lord Diplock: ‘Recklessness on the part of the doer of an act does presuppose that there is something in the circumstances that would have drawn the attention of an ordinary prudent individual to the possibility that this act was capable of causing the kind of serious harmful consequences that the section which creates the offence was intended to prevent, and that the risk of those harmful consequences occurring was not so slight that an ordinary prudent individual would feel justified in treating them as negligible. It is only when this is so that the doer of the act is acting ‘recklessly’ if before doing the act, he either fails to give any thought to the possibility of there being any such risk or, having recognised that there was such risk, he nevertheless goes on to do it.’
Lord Diplock and Lord Roskill, Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone LC
[1981] 2 WLR 524, [1982] AC 510, (1981) 73 Cr App R 1, [1981] 1 All ER 974
England and Wales
Cited – Commissioner of Police v Caldwell HL 19-Mar-1981
The defendant got drunk and set fire to the hotel where he worked. Guests were present. He was indicted upon two counts of arson. He pleaded guilty to the 1(1) count but contested the 1(2) charge, saying he was so drunk that the thought there might . .
Confirmed – Regina v Hinks HL 27-Oct-2000
A woman befriending an older man of limited intelligence accepted daily cash payments from his building society over eight months, claiming them to be gifts. She now appealed against her conviction for theft.
Held: (Lord Hutton dissenting) For . .
Approved – Regina v G and R HL 16-Oct-2003
The defendants, young boys, had set fire to paper and thrown the lit papers into a wheelie bin, expecting the fire to go out. In fact substantial damage was caused. The House was asked whether a conviction was proper under the section where the . .
Applied – Regina v Miller HL 17-Mar-1982
The defendant, a vagrant, fell asleep in an empty house. His lighted cigarette fell onto his mattress, and a fire started. Rather than put it out, he moved to another room. He was accused of arson.
Held: He was guilty. A defendant would be . .
Cited – Elliott v C 1983
A 14-year old girl of low intelligence entered a shed, poured white spirit on the floor and set it alight. The fire destroyed the shed after she left. The allegation was that she was reckless. The justices applied Caldwell but inferred that in his . .
Cited – Regina v Reid HL 1992
The defendant, convicted of causing death by reckless driving contrary asked the House to reconsider its decision in Lawrence on which the trial judge’s jury direction had been based.
Held: Lawrence remained good. (Lord Keith) ‘where the . .
Cited – Data Protection Registrar v Amnesty International (British Section) Admn 8-Nov-1994
The defendants had been charged with recklessly holding and then disclosing information about named individuals. It had exchanged a list of potential addressee’s for use in mailing lists with another charity.
Held: Recklessness is defined by . .
Cited – Regina v Goodfellow CACD 1986
The defendant had failed to get re-housed. He planned to burn down his present lodgings, rescuing the other inhabitants. Three died in his attempt. He appealed a conviction for manslaughter.
Held: The case was either an unlawful act or . .
Cited – Brown v The Queen (Jamaica) PC 13-Apr-2005
A police officer appealed against his conviction for manslaughter after being involved in a road traffic accident. Two were killed. The policemen complained as to the direction given on gross negligence manslaughter.
Held: Adomako could not . .
Applied – Kong Cheuk Kwan v The Queen PC 10-Jul-1985
Two hydrofoils collided, causing deaths. The officers were charged with manslaughter.
Held: The Board applied to the situation the law which had developed for road traffic accidents. . .
Cited – Regina v Conway CACD 28-Jul-1988
The defendant appealed against his conviction for reckless driving. He said the offence was committed out of necessity, since his passenger’s life was under threat.
Held: Necessity can only be a defence to a charge of reckless driving where . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.179855
The patient had suffered catastrophic injuries in 1989, leaving him in a persistent vegetative state (PVS). The doctors sought leave to discontinue life maintaining treatment and medical support. The inevitable result would be his death. The application was for an order discharging them from any civil or criminal liability.
Held: The provision of food by naso-gastric tube was medical treatment. The decision to withdraw it would be a medical decision. The true cause of the death was the accident. The judge made no declaration as to potential criminal liability, since the action would be within standard and proper medical practice. Future similar decisions should continue to be made after applications to court.
Sir Stephen Brown P
[1993] 2 WLR 316
England and Wales
Cited – Cruzan v Director, Missouri Department of Health 1990
. .
Cited – In re F (Mental Patient: Sterilisation) HL 4-May-1989
Where a patient lacks capacity, there is the power to provide him with whatever treatment or care is necessary in his own best interests. Medical treatment can be undertaken in an emergency even if, through a lack of capacity, no consent had been . .
Cited – Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee QBD 1957
Professional to use Skilled Persons Ordinary Care
Negligence was alleged against a doctor.
Held: McNair J directed the jury: ‘Where some special skill is exercised, the test for negligence is not the test of the man on the Clapham omnibus, because he has not got this special skill. The test . .
Cited – In Re B (A Minor) (Wardship: Medical Treatment) CA 1981
The child was born with Down’s Syndrome and an intestinal blockage. She needed the obstruction to be relieved if she was to survive. If the operation were performed, the child might die within a few months but it was probable that her life . .
At FD – Airedale NHS Trust v Bland CA 9-Dec-1992
The official Solicitor appealed against a decision that doctors could withdraw medical treatment including artificial nutrition, from a patient in persistent vegetative state.
Held: The doctors sought permission to act in accordance with . .
At FD – Airedale NHS Trust v Bland HL 4-Feb-1993
Procedures on Withdrawal of Life Support Treatment
The patient had been severely injured in the Hillsborough disaster, and had come to be in a persistent vegetative state (PVS). The doctors sought permission to withdraw medical treatment. The Official Solicitor appealed against an order of the Court . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.174707
The official Solicitor appealed against a decision that doctors could withdraw medical treatment including artificial nutrition, from a patient in persistent vegetative state.
Held: The doctors sought permission to act in accordance with recommended medical practice. Agreement was universal that there was no prospect of the patient’s improvement, nor any purpose in continued treatment. The purpose of medical treatment was to act for the benefit of the patient, and no benefit was being derived. The inviolability of life is not an absolute, and hear no direct interference was proposed, but rather the withdrawal of support. The appeal failed.
Hoffmann LJ said: ‘we have a strong feeling that there is an intrinsic value in human life, irrespective of whether it is valuable to the person concerned or indeed to anyone else. Those who adhere to religious faiths which believe in the sanctity of all God’s creation and in particular that human life was created in the image of God himself will have no difficulty with the concept of the intrinsic value of human life. But even those without any religious belief think in the same way. In a case like this we should not try to analyse the rationality of such feelings. What matters is that, in one form or another, they form part of almost everyone’s intuitive values. No law which ignores them can possibly hope to be acceptable.’
Sir Thomas Bingham MR, Butler-Sloss and Hoffmann LJJ
[1993] 2 WLR 316
England and Wales
Cited – In re T (Adult: Refusal of Treatment) CA 1992
A patient’s right to veto medical treatment is absolute: ‘This right of choice is not limited to decisions which others might regard as sensible. It exists notwithstanding that the reasons for making the choice are rational, irrational, unknown or . .
Cited – Sidaway v Board of Governors of the Bethlem Royal Hospital and the Maudsley Hospital HL 21-Feb-1985
Explanation of Medical Risks essential
The plaintiff alleged negligence in the failure by a surgeon to disclose or explain to her the risks inherent in the operation which he had advised.
Held: The appeal failed. A mentally competent patient has an absolute right to refuse to . .
Cited – Regina v Stone and Dobinson CACD 1977
The male defendant, Stone, and his mentally disabled son lived in Stone’s house with the female defendant, Dobinson. Stone’s sister came to live as a lodger. She neglected herself to such an extent that she became helplessly infirm. Fanny refused to . .
Cited – Regina v Cox 18-Sep-1992
Whether the questioning of a suspect in a police station amounted to an interview was a question of fact dependant upon all the circumstances, including the rest, arrival at the police station, caution, the notification of rights, and the nature of . .
Cited – In re Quinlan 1976
Protecting the privacy rights of incompetent dying patients. . .
Cited – Nancy B v Hotel-Dieu de Quebec 1992
An individual of full capacity is not obliged to give consent to medical treatment, nor is a medical practitioner or other service provider under any obligation to provide such treatment without consent, even if the failure to treat will result in . .
Cited – Malette v Shulman Jobes, In re 1990
‘The right to determine what shall be done with one’s own body is a fundamental right in our society. The concepts inherent in this right are the bedrock upon which the principles of self-determination and individual autonomy are based. Free . .
Cited – In Re B (A Minor) (Wardship: Medical Treatment) CA 1981
The child was born with Down’s Syndrome and an intestinal blockage. She needed the obstruction to be relieved if she was to survive. If the operation were performed, the child might die within a few months but it was probable that her life . .
Cited – In re B (A Minor) (Wardship: Sterilisation) HL 1987
Paramount Consideration in Wardship Application
The House considered a case involving the sterilisation of a girl just under 18, who suffered from mental disability.
Held: A court exercising wardship jurisdiction, when reaching a decision on an application to authorise an operation for . .
Cited – In re C (A Minor) (Wardship: Medical Treatment) CA 1989
. .
Cited – In re F (Mental Patient: Sterilisation) HL 4-May-1989
Where a patient lacks capacity, there is the power to provide him with whatever treatment or care is necessary in his own best interests. Medical treatment can be undertaken in an emergency even if, through a lack of capacity, no consent had been . .
Cited – In re J (a Minor) (Wardship: Medical treatment) CA 1-Oct-1990
J was born at 27 weeks’, weighing only 1.1kg. He suffered very severe and permanent brain damage at the time of his birth, the brain tissue then lost being irreplaceable. He was epileptic and the medical evidence was that he was likely to develop . .
At FD – Airedale NHS Trust v Bland FD 19-Nov-1992
The patient had suffered catastrophic injuries in 1989, leaving him in a persistent vegetative state (PVS). The doctors sought leave to discontinue life maintaining treatment and medical support. The inevitable result would be his death. The . .
Cited – Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee QBD 1957
Professional to use Skilled Persons Ordinary Care
Negligence was alleged against a doctor.
Held: McNair J directed the jury: ‘Where some special skill is exercised, the test for negligence is not the test of the man on the Clapham omnibus, because he has not got this special skill. The test . .
At CA – Airedale NHS Trust v Bland HL 4-Feb-1993
Procedures on Withdrawal of Life Support Treatment
The patient had been severely injured in the Hillsborough disaster, and had come to be in a persistent vegetative state (PVS). The doctors sought permission to withdraw medical treatment. The Official Solicitor appealed against an order of the Court . .
Cited – Portsmouth NHS Trust v Wyatt and others FD 7-Oct-2004
Charlotte Wyatt was born prematurely, and depended for day to day her life on medical support. Her doctors asked to be permitted not to resuscitate her again if she needed it. Her parents asked that she be given whatever chance was available for her . .
Cited – Nicklinson and Another, Regina (on The Application of) SC 25-Jun-2014
Criminality of Assisting Suicide not Infringing
The court was asked: ‘whether the present state of the law of England and Wales relating to assisting suicide infringes the European Convention on Human Rights, and whether the code published by the Director of Public Prosecutions relating to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.174706
Parents appealed against six convictions for assaulting their child.
[2011] EWCA Crim 649
England and Wales
Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.430827
Appeal from conviction of murder.
[2011] EWCA Crim 80
England and Wales
Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.430664
[2008] NICC 16
Northern Ireland
Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.272344
Lord Justice Bean
[2020] EWCA Crim 1343
England and Wales
Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.655485
Appeal from conviction for providing taxi service to disabled person only at additional expense.
[2019] EWHC 365 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.633799
[2019] EWCA Crim 45
England and Wales
Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.633284
Appeal allowed
[2019] EWCA Crim 43
England and Wales
Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.633282
Appeal by way of case stated from the Magistrates’ Court in which the Appellant seeks to challenge his conviction for breach of a Community Protection Notice issued to him pursuant to section 43 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014
[2019] EWHC 84 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.633165
[2018] NICC 5
Northern Ireland
Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.622357
[2018] NICC 6
Northern Ireland
Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.622355
The defendant appealed from his conviction for possession of indecent images of children. He said that he had been unaware that they had been uploaded to his phone through WhatsApp.
Irwin LJ, Sir Kenneth Parker, Judge Aubrey QC
[2018] EWCA Crim 1929, [2018] WLR(D) 552
England and Wales
Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.622338
[2018] EWCA Crim 618
England and Wales
Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.622332
[2018] NICC 10
Northern Ireland
Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.622358
[2018] NICC 2
Northern Ireland
Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.622352
[2018] NICC 3
Northern Ireland
Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.622354
[2018] NICC 4
Northern Ireland
Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.622353
[2017] EWCA Crim 1477
England and Wales
Updated: 26 April 2022; Ref: scu.621119
Upon the allegedly negligent release of the claimant from mental health care, she had, while in the midst of a serious psychotic episode, derived from the schizophrenia, killed her mother and been convicted of manslaughter. She now sought damages in negligence. The defendant relied upon a defence of illegality.
Held: All the heads of claim were barred under public policy.
Sir Terence Etherton MR, Sir Ernest Ryder SPT and Lady Justice Macur
[2018] EWCA Civ 1841, [2018] WLR(D) 521
Forfeiture Act 1982, Criminal Procedure (Insanity and Unfitness to Plead) Act 1991 1, Homicide Act 1957 2, Mental Health Act 1983 3
England and Wales
Cited – Regina v Birch CACD 1989
Even where there is culpability, a hospital order with a restriction order may well be the appropriate way to deal with a dangerous and disordered person.
Mustill LJ discussed the effect of a restriction order: ‘In marked contrast with the . .
Cited – Vowles and Others, Regina v CACD 5-Feb-2015
The court considered appeals by prisoners subject to indeterminate sentences (either imprisonment for public protection (IPP) or a life sentence) passed between 1997 and 2008, where there had been medical evidence before the court suggesting the . .
Cited – Patel v Mirza SC 20-Jul-2016
The claimant advanced funds to the respondent for him to invest in a bank of which the claimant had insider knowledge. In fact the defendant did not invest the funds, the knowledge was incorrect. The defendant however did not return the sums . .
Cited – Daniel MNaghtens Case HL 1843
Daniel M’Naghten suffered from a mental disorder under which he believed that he was being persecuted by various bodies in authority, including the Tory Party. He sought to kill the Tory Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel, but shot and killed instead . .
Cited – Young v The Bristol Aeroplane Co Ltd CA 28-Jul-1944
Court of Appeal must follow Own Decisions
The claimant was injured and received compensation. He then sought to recover again, alleging breach of statutory duty by his employers.
Held: The Court of Appeal was in general bound to follow its own previous decisions. The court considered . .
Cited – Clunis (By his Next Friend Prince) v Camden and Islington Health Authority CA 5-Dec-1997
The plaintiff had killed someone and, as a result, been convicted of manslaughter and ordered to be detained in a secure hospital when subject to after-care under section 117 of the 1983 Act. He sought damages from the health authority on the basis . .
Cited – Regina v Drew HL 8-May-2003
The defendant was mentally ill. He had been convicted of a second serious offence, and now appealed the life sentence imposed. Psychiatrists had recommended a hospital order, but such an order could not now be made by virtue of the 2000 Act save in . .
Cited – Gray v Thames Trains and Others HL 17-Jun-2009
The claimant suffered severe psychiatric injured in a rail crash caused by the defendant’s negligence. Under this condition of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, the claimant had gone on to kill another person, and he had been detained under section . .
See Also – Henderson v Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust QBD 19-Dec-2016
. .
Cited – Holman v Johnson 5-Jul-1775
ex turpi causa non oritur actio
Mansfield LCJ set out the principle of ex turpi causa non oritur actio: ‘The objection, that a contract is immoral or illegal as between plaintiff and defendant, sounds at all times very ill in the mouth of the defendant. It is not for his sake, . .
Cited – Browning v War Office CA 1962
The plaintiff had been a technical sergeant in the United States Air Force; his pay had been $450 per month and after his injuries caused by the negligence of the defendants’ driver he received only a ‘veteran’s benefit’ of $217 per month
Cited – Hounga v Allen and Another SC 30-Jul-2014
The appellant, of Nigerian origin had been brought here at the age of 14 with false identity papers, and was put to work caring for the respondent’s children. In 2008 she was dismissed and ejected from the house. She brought proceedings alleging . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 25 April 2022; Ref: scu.620605
[2018] EWCA Crim 1691
England and Wales
Updated: 25 April 2022; Ref: scu.620165
[2018] EWHC 1798 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 25 April 2022; Ref: scu.619921
Review of measures taken under the 2011 Act.
[2018] EWHC 1664 (Admin)
Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures Act 2011
England and Wales
Updated: 25 April 2022; Ref: scu.619914
[2018] EWHC 1773 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 25 April 2022; Ref: scu.619918
Appeal from conviction of conspiracy to rob and murder – alleged misdirection as to inferences to be drawn from his silence.
[2004] EWCA Crim 2236
England and Wales
Updated: 25 April 2022; Ref: scu.619904
[2018] EWCA Crim 1500
England and Wales
Updated: 25 April 2022; Ref: scu.619858
[2018] EWHC 1784 (QB)
England and Wales
Updated: 25 April 2022; Ref: scu.619870
[2018] ScotHC HCJAC – 25
Scotland
Updated: 24 April 2022; Ref: scu.618816
[2018] ScotHC HCJAC – 24
Scotland
Updated: 24 April 2022; Ref: scu.618811
[2018] ScotHC HCJAC – 30
Scotland
Updated: 24 April 2022; Ref: scu.618818
[2018] ScotHC HCJAC – 29
Scotland
Updated: 24 April 2022; Ref: scu.618820
[2018] ScotHC HCJAC – 7
Scotland
Updated: 24 April 2022; Ref: scu.618810
The plaintiff argued that the objects of the Secular Society Ltd, which had been registered under the Companies Acts, were unlawful.
Held: The House referred to ‘the last persons to go to the stake in this country pro salute animae’ in 1612 or thereabouts.
A certificate of incorporation given by the Registrar in respect of any association should be conclusive evidence that all the requirements of the Act in respect of registration and of matters precedent and incidental thereto had been complied with, and that the association was a company authorised to be registered and duly registered under the Act.
Lord Finlay LC said that the certificate was conclusive as to the existence of the society as a duly incorporated company: ‘What the Legislature was dealing with was the validity of the incorporation and it is for the purpose of incorporation, and for this purpose only, that the certificate is made conclusive’
Lord Dunedin said: ‘The certificate of incorporation in terms of the section quoted of the Companies Act, 1900, prevents any one alleging that the company does not exist’ ‘
Lord Parker of Waddington said: ‘The section does, however, preclude all His Majesty’s lieges from going behind the certificate or from alleging that the society is not a corporate body with the status and capacity conferred by the Acts’ . . And ‘[I]f the directors of the society applied its funds for an illegal object, they would be guilty of misfeasance and liable to replace the money, even if the object for which the money had been applied were expressly authorised by the memorandum.’
Lord Sumner said of the offence of blasphemous libel: ‘Our courts of law, in the exercise of their own jurisdiction, do not and never did that I can find, punish irreligious words as offences against God. As to them they held that deorum injuriae dis curae. They dealt with such words for their manner, their violence or ribaldry or, more fully stated for their tendency to endanger the public peace then and there, to deprave public morality generally, to shake the fabric of society and to be a cause of civil strife. The words, as well as the acts, which tend to endanger society differ from time to time in proportion as society is stable or insecure in fact, or is believed by its reasonable members to be open to assault.’
Lord Parker said: ‘In my opinion to constitute blasphemy at common law there must be such an element of vilification, ridicule, or irreverence as would be likely to exasperate the feelings of others and so lead to a breach of the peace’
Lord Sumner, Lord Finlay LC, Lord Dunedin, Lord Parker of Waddington
[1917] AC 406, [1916-17] All ER 1, 15 Cox CC 231
England and Wales
Cited – Regina v Secretary of State for Education and Employment and others ex parte Williamson and others HL 24-Feb-2005
The appellants were teachers in Christian schools who said that the blanket ban on corporal punishment interfered with their religious freedom. They saw moderate physical discipline as an essential part of educating children in a Christian manner. . .
Cited – Green, Regina (on the Application of) v The City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court, Thoday, Thompson Admn 5-Dec-2007
The claimant appealed from the refusal by the magistrate to issue summonses for the prosecution for blashemous libel of the Director General of the BBC and the producers of a show entitled ‘Jerry Springer – The Opera.’
Held: The gist of the . .
Cited – Johns and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Derby City Council and Another Admn 28-Feb-2011
The claimants had acted as foster carers for several years, but challenged a potential decision to discontinue that when, as committed Christians, they refused to sign to agree to treat without differentiation any child brought to them who might be . .
Cited – Jetivia Sa and Another v Bilta (UK) Ltd and Others SC 22-Apr-2015
The liquidators of Bilta had brought proceedings against former directors and the appellant alleging that they were party to an unlawful means conspiracy which had damaged the company by engaging in a carousel fraud with carbon credits. On the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 24 April 2022; Ref: scu.223027
An accusation of assault and trespass will lie where the defendant threw a squib which was then thrown about by others in self defence, but eventually exploded putting out the plaintiff’s eye.
(1773) 3 Wils 403, [1773] 2 Wm Bl 892, (1773) 95 ER 1124
England and Wales
Cited – Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis v Reeves (Joint Administratix of The Estate of Martin Lynch, Deceased) HL 15-Jul-1999
The deceased was a prisoner known to be at risk of committing suicide. Whilst in police custody he hanged himself in his prison cell. The Commissioner accepted that he was in breach of his duty of care to the deceased, but not that that breach was . .
Cited – Haystead v Director of Public Prosecutions QBD 2-Jun-2000
The defendant had hit a mother in the face as she held the child. The force was sufficient to cause her to drop the child causing injury to the child. He appealed against a conviction for beating the child.
Held: The appeal failed. A battery . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 24 April 2022; Ref: scu.235785
Treason – Obligations granted in Prison before Trial – The Earl of Winton, while in prison previous to his trial and attainder for high treason, granted receipts bearing to be for money advanced to him, but these are not allowed in whole.
It is found, however, that he was entitled to be alimented out of his estate at that period, and to apply money to the expences of his trial, and for his maintenance in prison for three months 5 and for such expences a sum of money (2972 l. 3 s.) is modified.
[1725] UKHL Robertson – 518, (1725) Robertson 518
England and Wales
Updated: 24 April 2022; Ref: scu.554117
Allegations of VAT carousel fraud against several defendants had been dismissed, and the Crown now applied for voluntary bills of indictment, effectively to re-instate the allegations.
Irwin J
[2008] EWHC 976 (QB)
England and Wales
Updated: 23 April 2022; Ref: scu.618128
The court was asked whether the defence of self defence was available on a charge of obstructing a police officer.
Held: ‘The defence of self-defence or defence of another person is, as a matter of law, available in relation to the offence of obstructing a constable in the execution of his duty under s.89(2) of the Police Act 1996. Since, in the circumstances of the present case the Crown Court was of the view that if that defence had been available as a matter of law, it would have succeeded on the facts. I would allow this appeal, and quash the conviction in this case.’
[2018] EWHC 115 (Admin), [2018] 2 WLR 1725
England and Wales
Updated: 23 April 2022; Ref: scu.618095
[2017] EWCA Crim 2574
England and Wales
Updated: 23 April 2022; Ref: scu.617950
The defendant was to face trial under the 2006 Act. He applied for an order under section 4(2) of the 1981 Act postponing the reporting of the proceedings on the grounds that knowledge by the jury of the inquiry and police investigation would be prejudicial. Media organisations now applied for the order made to be lifted.
Held: The application succeeded.
Lord Burnett of Maldon CJ, Stuart-Smith, Nicklin JJ
[2018] EWCA Crim 1341, [2018] WLR(D) 356
Fraud Act 2006, Contempt of Court Act 1981 4(2)
England and Wales
Cited – Ex parte Central Independent Television 1991
An appeal under section 159 can be made even after the reporting restriction order has been discharged. . .
Cited – Scott v Scott HL 5-May-1913
Presumption in Favour of Open Proceedings
There had been an unauthorised dissemination by the petitioner to third parties of the official shorthand writer’s notes of a nullity suit which had been heard in camera. An application was made for a committal for contempt.
Held: The House . .
Cited – Attorney-General v Leveller Magazine Ltd HL 1-Feb-1979
The appellants were magazines and journalists who published, after committal proceedings, the name of a witness, a member of the security services, who had been referred to as Colonel B during the hearing. An order had been made for his name not to . .
Cited – Regina v Central Criminal Court ex parte The Telegraph Plc CACD 1993
The court considered the effect of a jury trial in balancing pre-trial prejudicial publicity. Lord Taylor CJ said: ‘In determining whether publication of matter would cause a substantial risk of prejudice to a future trial, a court should credit the . .
Cited – PNM v Times Newspapers Ltd and Others SC 19-Jul-2017
No anonymity for investigation suspect
The claimant had been investigated on an allegation of historic sexual abuse. He had never been charged, but the investigation had continued with others being convicted in a high profile case. He appealed from refusal of orders restricting . .
Cited – Regina v Legal Aid Board ex parte Kaim Todner (a Firm of Solicitors) CA 10-Jun-1998
Limitation on Making of Anonymity Orders
A firm of solicitors sought an order for anonymity in their proceedings against the LAB, saying that being named would damage their interests irrespective of the outcome.
Held: The legal professions have no special part in the law as a party . .
Cited – Kelly (A Minor) v British Broadcasting Corporation FD 25-Jul-2000
K, aged 16, had left home to join what was said to be a religious sect. His whereabouts were unknown. He had been made a ward of court and the Official Solicitor was appointed to represent his interests. He had sent messages to say that he was well . .
Cited – In re C (A Child) CA 29-Jul-2016
Publication of care hearings
The court was asked whether a judgment in earlier care proceedings held in private should now be made public. The father had since been convicted of the murder of C. Reporting restrictions were imposed pending his trial, and immediately after the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 23 April 2022; Ref: scu.617993
[2018] EWCA Crim 1009
England and Wales
Updated: 23 April 2022; Ref: scu.617983
[2017] EWCA Crim 2503
England and Wales
Updated: 23 April 2022; Ref: scu.617948
[2017] EWCA Crim 2509
England and Wales
Updated: 23 April 2022; Ref: scu.617949
[2017] EWCA Crim 2604
England and Wales
Updated: 23 April 2022; Ref: scu.617947
[2017] EWCA Crim 2259
England and Wales
Updated: 23 April 2022; Ref: scu.617951
[2017] EWCA Crim 2510
England and Wales
Updated: 23 April 2022; Ref: scu.617946
[2017] EWCA Crim 2506
England and Wales
Updated: 23 April 2022; Ref: scu.617945
[2017] EWCA Crim 1411
England and Wales
Updated: 23 April 2022; Ref: scu.617944
[2017] EWCA Crim 526
England and Wales
Updated: 23 April 2022; Ref: scu.617943
D was convicted for kidnapping his 5-year old daughter, a ward of court, who was in the care and control of her mother. The CA held that there was no such offence as the kidnapping of a child under 14, that it could not be committed by a parent, and that the proper remedy was for contempt of court rather than the criminal law.
Held: Allowing the Crown’s appeal that 1) the common law of the offence of kidnapping in relation to children under 14 was unaffected by the statutory offence of child stealing so that where the ingredients of kidnapping were proved, namely the taking or carrying away of one person by another by force without the consent of the other and without lawful excuse, an offence was committed people (R v Edge [1943] IR 115 considered)
2) Although a father’s paramount authority in the family would have proved a lawful excuse in the past, that defence was no longer available in the changed social and legal attitudes when parents were treated as having equal authority over a child. A parent could not plead his rights as a father as a lawful excuse and could therefore kidnap his own child in law;
3 it was desirable that people who snatch their own children in defiance of a court order should be dealt with in civil proceedings for contempt of court save in exceptional cases where the parent’s conduct was so bad that an ordinary right thinking person would unhesitatingly regard it as conduct of a criminal nature. The defendant’s conduct and plea justified the decision to prosecute him, and the order of the court of appeal should be set aside and the conviction for kidnapping restored.
The offence of kidnapping ‘was always regarded, by reason of its nature, as a grave and (to use the language of an earlier age) heinous offence’
It is extremely undesirable that there should in any circumstances be any private prosecutions for such a kidnapping.
Lord Brandon said: ‘From this wide body of authority six matters relating to the offence of kidnapping clearly emerge. First, the nature of the offence is an attack on, and infringement of, the personal liberty of individuals. Secondly, the offence contains four ingredients as follows: (1) the taking or carrying away of one person by another; (2) by force or by fraud; (3) without the consent of the person so taken; and (4) without lawful excuse. Thirdly, until the comparatively recent abolition by statute of the division of criminal offences into the two categories of felonies and misdemeanours, the offence of kidnapping was categorised by common law as a misdemeanour only. Fourthly, despite that, kidnapping is always regarded, by reason of its nature, as a grave and (to use the language of an earlier age) heinous offence. Fifthly, in earlier days, the offence contained a further ingredient, namely that the taking or carrying away should be from a place within the jurisdiction to another place outside it; this further ingredient has, however, long been obsolete, and forms no necessary part of the offence today. Sixthly, the offence was in former days described not merely as taking or carrying away a person, but further or alternatively as secreting him; this element of secretion has, however, also become obsolete, so that, although it may be present in a particular case, it adds nothing to the basic ingredient of taking or carrying away.’
Lord Scarman concluded that: ‘as a matter of law the parental right to determine whether or not their minor child below the age of 16 will have medical treatment terminates if and when the child achieves a sufficient understanding and intelligence to enable him or her to understand fully what is proposed. It will be a question of fact whether a child seeking advice has sufficient understanding of what is involved to give a consent valid in law. Until the child achieves the capacity to consent, the parental right to make the decision continues save only in exceptional circumstances.’
Otherwise: Regina v D (Ian Malcolm)
Lord Brandon, Lord Scarman, Lord Bridge
[1984] AC 778, [1984] 2 All ER 449, (1984) 79 Cr App R 313, [1984] 2 All ER 249, (1984) 79 Cr App R 313
England and Wales
Applied – Regina v Cort CACD 7-Jul-2003
The defendant appealed a conviction for kidnapping, saying the victims’ absence of consent was not fundamental. Driving his car, he had stopped at bus stops, inviting women to get in saying falsely that the bus had been cancelled. He had with him . .
Cited – Regina v Hendy-Freegard CACD 23-May-2007
The defendant against appealed his conviction for kidnapping. He had fraudulently taken control of his victims’ lives and fleeced them. He was said to have kidnapped them, originally by persuading them to get into his car and then driving off. He . .
Cited – Dean v Regina CACD 28-Jul-2021
The defendant appealed her conviction inter alia for kidnapping. The victim had been taken and brought to a car she drove, then taken out and severely assaulted. She said that the offence of kidnapping had been complete when he was brought to the . .
Cited – In re D (A Child) SC 26-Sep-2019
D, a young adult had a mild learning disability and other more serious conditions. He was taken into a hospital providing mental health services. The external door was locked, and a declaration was sought to permit this deprivation of his liberty, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 19 April 2022; Ref: scu.668405
In a prosecution under the 1968 Act, the court discussed how to identify the directing mind and will of a company, and whether employees remained liable when proper instructions had been given to those in charge of a local store.
Held: ‘In the expression ‘act or default’ in section 23 and in paragraph (a) of section 24(1) the word ‘act’ is wide enough to include any physical act of the other person which is causative of the offence. But the use of the word ‘default’ instead of the neutral expression ‘omission’ connotes a failure to act which constitutes a breach of a legal duty to act. A legal duty to act may arise independently of any contract or it may be a duty owed to another person arising out of a contract with him.’ The defendants were the company in the sense that any offences committed by them in relation to the affairs of the company would be capable of being treated as offences committed by the company itself.
Lord Reid said: ‘Where a limited company is the employer difficult questions do arise in a wide variety of circumstances in deciding which of its officers or servants is to be identified with the company so that his guilt is the guilt of the company.
I must start by considering the nature of the personality which by a fiction the law attributes to a corporation. A living person has a mind which can have knowledge or intention or be negligent and he has hands to carry out his intentions. A corporation has none of these: it must act through living persons, though not always one or the same person. Then the person who acts is not speaking or acting for the company. He is acting as the company and his mind which directs his acts is the mind of the company. There is no question of the company being vicariously liable. He is not acting as a servant, representative, agent or delegate. He is an embodiment of the company or, one could say, he hears and speaks through the persona of the company, within his appropriate sphere, and his mind is the mind of the company. If it is a guilty mind then that guilt is the guilt of the company. It must be a question of law whether, once the facts have been ascertained, a person in doing particular things is to be regarded as the company or merely as the company’s servant or agent. In that case any liability of the company can only be a statutory or vicarious liability.’ and
‘. . . Normally the board of directors, the managing director and perhaps other superior officers of a company carry out the functions of management and speak and act as the company. Their subordinates do not. They carry out orders from above and it can make no difference that they are given some measure of discretion. But the board of directors may delegate some part of their functions of management giving to their delegate full discretion to act independently of instructions from them. I see no difficulty in holding that they have thereby put such a delegate in their place so that within the scope of the delegation he can act as the company. It may not always be easy to draw the line but there are cases in which the line must be drawn. Lennard’s case [1915] AC 705 was one of them.’
Viscount Dilhorne set out the test: ‘a person who is in actual control of the operations of a company or of part of them and who is not responsible to another person in the company for the manner in which he discharges his duties in the sense of being under his orders’
Lord Diplock said: ‘Consumer protection, which is the purpose of statutes of this kind, is achieved only if the occurrence of the prohibited acts or omissions is prevented. It is the deterrent effect of penal provisions which protects the consumer from the loss he would sustain if the offence were committed. If it is committed he does not receive the amount of any fine. As a tax payer he will bear part of the expense of maintaining a convicted offender in prison.
The loss to the consumer is the same whether the acts or omissions result in him being given inaccurate or inadequate information are intended to mislead him, or are due to carelessness or inadvertance. So is the corresponding gain to the other party to the business transaction with the consumer in the course of which those acts or omissions occur. Where, in the way that businesses are now conducted, they are likely to be acts or omissions of employees of that party and subject to his orders, the most effective method of deterrence is to place upon the employer the responsibility of doing everything which lies within his power to prevent his employees from doing anything which will result in the commission of an offence.
This, I apprehend, is the rational and moral justification for creating in the field of consumer protection, as also in the field of public health and safety, offences of ‘strict liability’ for which an employer or principal, in the course of whose business the offences were committed, is criminally liable, notwithstanding that they are due to acts or omissions of his servants or agents which were done without his knowledge or consent or even were contrary to his orders. But this rational and moral justification (and here come words of significance in the present case) does not extend to penalising an employer or principal who has done everything that he can reasonably be expected to do by supervision or inspection, by improvement of his business methods or by exhorting those whom he may be expected to control or influence to prevent the commission of the offence (see Lim Chin Aik v. The Queen (1963) AC 160, 174; Sweet v. Parsley (1970) AC 132, 163). What the employer or principal can reasonably be expected to do to prevent the commission of an offence would depend upon the gravity of the injury which it is sought to prevent and the nature of the business in the course of which such offences are committed. The Trade Descriptions Act 1968 applies to all businesses engaged in the supply of goods and services. If considerations of costs and business practicability did not play a part in determining what employers carrying on such business could reasonably be expected to do to prevent the commission of an offence under the Act, the price to the public of the protection afforded to a minority of consumers might well be an increase in the cost of goods and services to consumers generally.’
Lord Diplock, Lord Reid, Viscount Dilhorne
[1971] CLY 10538, [1972] AC 153, [1971] 2 WLR 1166, [1971] 2 All ER 127, [1971] UKHL 1
Trade Descriptions Act 1968 23
England and Wales
Cited – Lennard’s Carrying Company Limited v Asiatic Petroleum Company Limited HL 1915
The House was asked as to when the acts of an individual became those of his employer under section 502 (‘any loss or damage happening without (the ship owner’s) actual fault or privity’).
Held: Viscount Haldane LC said: ‘It must be upon the . .
Considered – Regina v British Steel Plc CACD 31-Dec-1994
British Steel employed two sub-contractors to work in moving a steel tower under their supervision. One platform fell on one of the sub-contractors, killing him. British Steel claimed they had delegated their responsibilities under the Act, and were . .
Cited – MCI Worldcom International Inc v Primus Telecommunications Inc ComC 25-Sep-2003
The claimant sought judgment, and the defendant leave to amend its defence. The question was whether the proposed defence had any reasonable prospect of success.
Held: The misrepresentation alleged was made by the claimant’s in-house . .
Cited – Express Ltd v The Environment Agency QBD 15-Jul-2004
The dairy appealed its conviction for allowing cream to enter a brook from the land of its customer.
Held: Polluting matter did not need to be itself noxious or poisonous, it was enough that it stained or tinted the water as did cream. Though . .
Cited – Mahonia Limited v JP Morgan Chase Bankwest Lb Ag QBD 3-Aug-2004
The Claimant claimed on a letter of credit issued by the Defendant on behalf of Enron Ltd, who asserted it was not liable to pay there having been unlawful behaviour by Enron Ltd. Swap agreements had been entered into, and the defendant said the . .
Cited – Attorney-General’s Reference (No. 2 of 1982) CACD 1984
Two men were charged with theft from a company which they wholly owned and controlled. The court considered the actions of company directors in dishonestly appropriating the property of the company, and whether since the title to the goods was . .
Cited – Director of Public Prosecutions v Gomez HL 3-Dec-1992
The defendant worked as a shop assistant. He had persuaded the manager to accept in payment for goods, two cheques which he knew to be stolen. The CA had decided that since the ownership of the goods was transferred on the sale, no appropriation of . .
Cited – Majrowski v Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust CA 16-Mar-2005
The claimant had sought damages against his employer, saying that they had failed in their duty to him under the 1997 Act in failing to prevent harassment by a manager. He appealed a strike out of his claim.
Held: The appeal succeeded. The . .
Cited – KR and others v Royal and Sun Alliance Plc CA 3-Nov-2006
The insurer appealed findings of liability under the 1930 Act. Claims had been made for damages for child abuse in a residential home, whom they insured. The home had become insolvent, and the claimants had pursued the insurer.
Held: The . .
Cited – Ferguson v British Gas Trading Ltd CA 10-Feb-2009
Harassment to Criminal Level needed to Convict
The claimant had been a customer of the defendant, but had moved to another supplier. She was then subjected to a constant stream of threatening letters which she could not stop despite re-assurances and complaints. The defendant now appealed . .
Cited – Jetivia Sa and Another v Bilta (UK) Ltd and Others SC 22-Apr-2015
The liquidators of Bilta had brought proceedings against former directors and the appellant alleging that they were party to an unlawful means conspiracy which had damaged the company by engaging in a carousel fraud with carbon credits. On the . .
Cited – A Ltd and Othersi, Regina v CACD 28-Jul-2016
The Serious Fraud Office appealed against rulings on the admission of evidence after its exclusion under section 78.
Held: The appeal was allowed. The appeal had been brought within time and could proceed. Police and Criminal Evidence Act . .
Cited – Lincolnshire County Council v Safeway Stores Plc Admn 19-Apr-1999
Appeal against conviction for selling food after sell by date. . .
Cited – X v Kuoni Travel Ltd SC 24-Jul-2019
The claimant had been raped by a member of staff at the hotel in Sri Lanka booked through the respondent travel company. She now appealed from dismissal of the claim.
Held: Questions were referred to the ECJ, namely: ‘(1) Where there has been . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 17 April 2022; Ref: scu.186448
[2018] ScotHC HCJAC – 26
Scotland
Updated: 16 April 2022; Ref: scu.618814
[2018] ScotHC HCJAC – 28
Scotland
Updated: 16 April 2022; Ref: scu.618815
Lord Justice Simon
Mr Justice Langstaff
Recorder of Winchester
His Honour Judge Cutler CBE
(Sitting as a Judge of the Court of Appeal Criminal Division)
[2016] EWCA Crim 674, [2016] 2 Cr App R 20, [2016] WLR(D) 392, [2016] 4 WLR 146
England and Wales
Updated: 16 April 2022; Ref: scu.565817
[2004] EWHC 2415 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 15 April 2022; Ref: scu.219218
Renewed application for leave to appeal from sentence of five years for burglary of commercial premises.
Simon LJ, Turner, Garnham JJ
[2018] EWCA Crim 833
England and Wales
Updated: 14 April 2022; Ref: scu.609737
[2018] EWCA Crim 692
England and Wales
Updated: 14 April 2022; Ref: scu.609500
[2018] EWCA Crim 888
England and Wales
Updated: 14 April 2022; Ref: scu.609501
[2018] EWCA Crim 693
England and Wales
Updated: 14 April 2022; Ref: scu.609499
The defendants, young boys, had set fire to paper and thrown the lit papers into a wheelie bin, expecting the fire to go out. In fact substantial damage was caused. The House was asked whether a conviction was proper under the section where the defendant had given no thought to a risk of damage, but because of his characteristics he might not have seen the danger if he had thought about it.
Held: The high threshold for the House to depart from its earlier judgments was satisfied in this case. Caldwell (which would in this case have disallowed any adjustment for the age or understanding of the defendaants) should be overruled. It has led to cases such as this, cases of clear injustice. Parliament had meant to get rid of the older connotations of malicious intent. It would be wrong to create specific exemptions for certain forms of disability such as youth, since this would lead only to further arbitrary complication. The culpability of the defendants should be decided according to their actual perception of the risk allowing for their personal characteristics.
Lord Bingham of Cornhill said: ‘in any statutory definition of a crime, ‘malice’ must, as we have already seen, be taken – not in its vague common law sense as ‘wickedness’ in general, but – as requiring an actual intention to do the particular kind of harm that in fact was done . . For it is essential to arson that the incendiary either should have intended the building to take fire, or, at least, should have recognised the probability of its taking fire and have been reckless as to whether or not it did so.’
Lord Steyn acknowledged the special position of children in the criminal justice system: ‘Ignoring the special position of children in the criminal justice system is not acceptable in the modern civil society. In 1990 the United Kingdom ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Cm 1976) which entered into force in January 1992. Article 40(1) provides ‘States parties recognise the right of every child alleged as, accused of, or recognised as having infringed the penal law to be treated in a manner consistent with the promotion of the child’s sense of dignity and worth, which reinforces the child’s respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of others, and which takes into account the child’s age and the desirability of promoting the child’s reintegration and the child’s assuming a constructive role in society’. This provision imposes both procedural and substantive obligations on the State parties to protect the special position of children in the criminal justice system . . it is true that the Convention became binding on the United Kingdom after R v Caldwell was decided. But the House cannot ignore the norm created by the Convention. This factor on its own justified a reappraisal of R v Caldwell.’
Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Browne-Wilkinson, Lord Steyn, Lord Hutton, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry
[2003] UKHL 50, Times 17-Oct-2003, Gazette 13-Nov-2003, [2003] 3 WLR 1060, [2004] 1 AC 1034, (2003) 167 JP 621, (2003) 167 JPN 955, [2004] 1 Cr App R 21, [2003] 4 All ER 765
House of Lords, Bailii, Bailii
Criminal Damage Act 1971 1, Malicious Damage Act 1861 51
England and Wales
Overruled – Commissioner of Police v Caldwell HL 19-Mar-1981
The defendant got drunk and set fire to the hotel where he worked. Guests were present. He was indicted upon two counts of arson. He pleaded guilty to the 1(1) count but contested the 1(2) charge, saying he was so drunk that the thought there might . .
Cited – Regina v Pembliton CCCR 1874
The defendant was fighting in the street. He picked up a large stone and threw it at the people he had been fighting with. He missed and broke a window causing damage of a value exceeding pounds 5. The jury convicted the defendant, although finding . .
Cited – Regina v Child 1871
The defendant had not intended to set fire to a house and had thought that what he was doing would not do so. He was not guilty. . .
Approved – Regina v Cunningham CCA 1957
Specific Intention as to Damage Caused
(Court of Criminal Appeal) The defendant wrenched a gas meter from the wall to steal it. Gas escaped. He was charged with unlawfully and maliciously causing a noxious thing, namely coal gas, to be taken by the victim.
Held: Byrne J said: ‘We . .
Cited – Regina v Welch 1875
The defendant faced charges of unlawfully and maliciously killing, maiming and wounding a mare under the Act.
Held: The trial judge was right to direct the jury to convict if they found that the defendant in fact intended to kill, maim or . .
Cited – Regina v Faulkner 1877
(Irish Court of Crown Cases Reserved) The defendant had set fire to a ship while stealing rum from its hold. He had been boring a hole by candlelight and some rum had spilled out and been ignited. It was conceded that he had not intended to burn the . .
Cited – Regina v Harris 1882
The defendant was charged with setting fire to a dwelling house. The judge directed: ‘Again, if you think that the prisoner set fire to the frame of the picture with a knowledge that in all probability the house itself would thereby be set on fire, . .
Cited – Regina v Mowatt CACD 20-Jun-1967
The defendant was attacked by his victim, and he hit his victim in the face. He was charged with wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm with an alternative of unlawful wounding also open to the jury. The judge gave no direction on the . .
Cited – Regina v Briggs (Note) CACD 1977
The defendant caused damage to a car. The appeal turned on the trial judge’s direction on the meaning of ‘reckless’.
Held: The conviction was set aside. The judge had not adequately explained that the test to be applied was that of the . .
Cited – Regina v Parker (Daryl) CACD 1977
In a temper the defendant broke a telephone by smashing the handset violently down on to the telephone unit.
Held: Applying but modifying Briggs, the defendant had been fully aware of all the circumstances and, if ‘he did not know, as he said . .
Cited – Regina v Stephenson CACD 1979
The defendant sought to sleep in a hollow in a haystack. He lit a fire, to keep warm, which set fire to the stack. He appealed against his conviction under the 1971 Act. He had a long history of schizophrenia and may not have had the same ability to . .
Approved – Regina v Lawrence (Stephen) HL 1981
The defendant had ridden a motor-cycle and hit a pedestrian. The court asked whether he had been reckless.
Held: The House understood recklessness as ‘a state of mind stopping short of deliberate intention, and going beyond mere inadvertence’ . .
Cited – Regina v Miller HL 17-Mar-1982
The defendant, a vagrant, fell asleep in an empty house. His lighted cigarette fell onto his mattress, and a fire started. Rather than put it out, he moved to another room. He was accused of arson.
Held: He was guilty. A defendant would be . .
Cited – Elliott v C 1983
A 14-year old girl of low intelligence entered a shed, poured white spirit on the floor and set it alight. The fire destroyed the shed after she left. The allegation was that she was reckless. The justices applied Caldwell but inferred that in his . .
Cited – Regina v Reid HL 1992
The defendant, convicted of causing death by reckless driving contrary asked the House to reconsider its decision in Lawrence on which the trial judge’s jury direction had been based.
Held: Lawrence remained good. (Lord Keith) ‘where the . .
Applied – Regina v Coles CACD 1995
The 15 year old defendant appealed his conviction on the basis of recklessness, challenging, unsuccessfully, the rule in Caldwell.
Held: Because recklessness was to be judged by the standard of the reasonable prudent man, expert evidence of . .
Cited – Director of Public Prosecutions v Majewski HL 1976
The defendant took a cocktail of drink and drugs and, whilst intoxicated, assaulted pub landlord. He said that he did not know what he was doing, and had no mens rea, that self-induced intoxication could be a defence to a charge of assault, and that . .
Cited – Regina v Morgan HL 30-Apr-1975
The defendants appealed against their convictions for rape, denying mens rea and asserting a belief (even if mistaken) that the victim had consented.
Held: For a defence of mistake to succeed, the mistake must have been honestly made and need . .
Cited – Beckford v The Queen PC 15-Jun-1987
(Jamaica) Self defence permits a defendant to use such force as is reasonable in the circumstances as he honestly believed them to be. ‘If then a genuine belief, albeit without reasonable grounds, is a defence to rape because it negatives the . .
Cited – B (A Minor) v Director of Public Prosecutions HL 23-Feb-2000
Prosecution to prove absence of genuine belief
To convict a defendant under the 1960 Act, the prosecution had the burden of proving the absence of a genuine belief in the defendant’s mind that the victim was 14 or over. The Act itself said nothing about any mental element, so the assumption must . .
Cited – Regina v K CACD 11-Dec-2002
While a girl under the age of 16 cannot in law consent to an indecent assault, it is a defence if the defendant honestly believed she was over 16. . .
Cited – Regina v Graham (Paul) CACD 18-Dec-1981
The defence of duress requires establishment of a reasonable belief. In judging the accused’s response the test is: ‘have the prosecution made the jury sure that a sober person of reasonable firmness, sharing the characteristics of the defendant, . .
Cited – Regina v Howe etc HL 19-Feb-1986
The defendants appealed against their convictions for murder, saying that their defences of duress had been wrongly disallowed.
Held: Duress is not a defence available on a charge of murder. When a defence of duress is raised, the test is . .
Cited – Regina v Martin (Colin) CACD 29-Nov-1988
Defence of Necessity has a Place in Criminal Law
The defendant appealed against his conviction for driving whilst disqualified. He said he had felt obliged to drive his stepson to work because his stepson had overslept. His wife (who had suicidal tendencies) had been threatening suicide unless he . .
Cited – Regina v Bowen CACD 24-Apr-1996
The low IQ of the defendant was not relevant to jury’s consideration of the effect of duress as a defence. The age and sex of the defendant (but possibly no other characteristics) are relevant to the cogency of the threat. . .
Cited – Regina v Smith (Morgan James) HL 27-Jul-2000
The defendant had sought to rely upon the defence of provocation. He had suffered serious clinical depression.
Held: When directing a jury on the law of provocation, it was no longer appropriate to direct the jury to disregard any particular . .
Cited – Attorney General’s Reference (No 3 of 2003) CACD 7-Apr-2004
Police Officers had been acquitted of misconduct in public office. They had stood by in a police station custody suite as a prisoner lay on the floor and died.
Held: The trial took place before R -v- G which had overruled Caldwell. The . .
Cited – Regina v Misra; Regina v Srivastava CACD 8-Oct-2004
Each doctor appealed convictions for manslaughter by gross negligence, saying that the offence was insufficiently clearly established to comply with human rights law, in that the jury had to decide in addition and as a separate ingredient whether . .
Cited – Jindal Iron and Steel Co Ltd and others v Islamic Solidarity Shipping Company Jordan Inc (‘The Jordan II’) HL 25-Nov-2004
Cargo was damaged by rough handling during loading and/or discharging, and/or inadequate stowage due to failure to provide dunnage, failure to secure the coils and/or stacking them so that the bottom layers were excessively compressed. The House was . .
Cited – Brown v The Queen (Jamaica) PC 13-Apr-2005
A police officer appealed against his conviction for manslaughter after being involved in a road traffic accident. Two were killed. The policemen complained as to the direction given on gross negligence manslaughter.
Held: Adomako could not . .
Cited – Horton v Sadler and Another HL 14-Jun-2006
The claimant had been injured in a road traffic accident for which the defendant was responsible in negligence. The defendant was not insured, and so a claim was to be made against the MIB. The plaintiff issued proceedings just before the expiry of . .
Cited – Foster and Another v The Queen PC 23-Jan-2007
(Barbados) The appellants had been convicted under the felony murder rule, before its abolition in Barbados in 1994. . .
Cited – HC (A Child), Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for The Home Department and Another Admn 25-Apr-2013
The claimant sought to challenge the policy that a 17 year old under arrest was to be treated as an adult for interview purposes, even though at every other stage of a criminal investigation and prosecution, he would be treated as a child. He had . .
Cited – Rhodes v OPO and Another SC 20-May-2015
The mother sought to prevent a father from publishing a book about her child’s life. It was to contain passages she said may cause psychological harm to the 12 year old son. Mother and son lived in the USA and the family court here had no . .
Cited – Cornwall Council, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Health and Somerset County Council SC 8-Jul-2015
PH had severe physical and learning disabilities and was without speech, lacking capacity to decide for himself where to live. Since the age of four he received accommodation and support at public expense. Until his majority in December 2004, he was . .
Cited – Al Rabbat v Westminster Magistrates’ Court Admn 31-Jul-2017
The claimant appealed against refusal of an application for judicial review in turn of a refusal to allow private prosecutions of Tony Blair, Jack Straw and Lord Goldsmith in respect of their involvement in the war in Iraq, and the alleged crime of . .
Cited – Ball v Johnson 29-May-2019
Summons granted for political lies allegation
(Westminster Magistrates Court) The court gave its reasons for acceding to a request for the issue of a summons requiring the defendant to answer a charge for three offences alleging misconduct in a public office.
Held: There was prima facie . .
Cited – Navigators Insurance Company Ltd and Others v Atlasnavios-Navegacao Lda SC 22-May-2018
The vessel had been taken by the authorities in Venezuela after drugs were found to have been attached to its hull by third parties. Six months later it was declared a constructive total loss. The ship owners now sought recovery of its value from . .
Cited – Keal, Regina v CACD 18-Mar-2022
Insanity Plea not for D believing he had no choice
The court was asked whether the defence of insanity would be available to a psychotic and deluded defendant who was aware that his act was wrong, but believed himself compelled to perform it. The defendant, with a history of mental problems, had . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 14 April 2022; Ref: scu.186774
The defendant appealed his conviction of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm. He was made subject to a hospital order without limit of time under sections 37 and 41 of the Mental Health Act 1983.
Lord Justice Latham
(Vice President of the Court of Appeal Criminal Division)
Mr Justice Royce
Mr Justice King
[2007] EWCA Crim 1978
England and Wales
Cited – Keal, Regina v CACD 18-Mar-2022
Insanity Plea not for D believing he had no choice
The court was asked whether the defence of insanity would be available to a psychotic and deluded defendant who was aware that his act was wrong, but believed himself compelled to perform it. The defendant, with a history of mental problems, had . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 14 April 2022; Ref: scu.259777
The defendant appealed by case stated against his conviction for receiving stolen goods, saying that the magistrates had had no proper evidential basis for any finding that he had committed the actus reus of handing the stolen goods.
[2003] EWHC 2737 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 14 April 2022; Ref: scu.189116
The defendant appealed against his conviction for importing unlawful drugs.
Pill LJ, Dobbs LJ, Lloyd Jones LJ
[2007] EWCA Crim 1651
Customs & Excise Management Act 1978 170(2)(b)
England and Wales
Updated: 14 April 2022; Ref: scu.254547
To establish a defence of insanity at common law it must be shown that the accused did not know that what he was doing was contrary to law. The McNaghten rules are not limited to cases in which the accused is suffering from delusions but apply in all cases of insanity, whatever may be the nature of the insanity or disease of the mind from which the accused is suffering.
Lord Goddard CJ said: ‘As I endeavoured to point out in giving the judgment of the Court in R v Rivett, in all cases of this kind, the real test is responsibility. A man may be suffering from a defect of reason, but if he knows that what he is doing ‘wrong’, and by ‘wrong’ is meant contrary to law, he is responsible.’
Lord Goddard CJ
[1952] 2 All ER 1, [1952] 2 QB 826, 1952) 36 Cr App R 85
England and Wales
Cited – Keal, Regina v CACD 18-Mar-2022
Insanity Plea not for D believing he had no choice
The court was asked whether the defence of insanity would be available to a psychotic and deluded defendant who was aware that his act was wrong, but believed himself compelled to perform it. The defendant, with a history of mental problems, had . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 14 April 2022; Ref: scu.545138
Appeal from conviction for conspiracy to import diamorphine.
Held: The appeal agaist conviction failed, but the sentence was reduced to 14 years.
Thirlwall LJ, SirNicholas Blake, Williams HHJ
[2018] EWCA Crim 552, [2018] WLR(D) 198
Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 170
England and Wales
Updated: 13 April 2022; Ref: scu.608706
Appeal in an immigration case concerning the proposed deportation of the appellant, a national of Egypt, who fell within the definition of a foreign criminal for the purposes of the immigration regime.
Lewison, Sales LJJ
[2018] EWCA Civ 532
England and Wales
Updated: 13 April 2022; Ref: scu.608696
Prosector’s appeal from verdict ofnot guilty on charges of using threatening or abusive words or behaviour.
Bean LJ, Geen J
[2017] EWHC 3193 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 13 April 2022; Ref: scu.601433
The defendant was found guilty of cheating when winning a three card trick by the use of ‘sleight of hand’
[1912] 3 KB 568
England and Wales
Cited – Ivey v Genting Casinos (UK) Ltd (T/A Crockfords) SC 25-Oct-2017
The claimant gambler sought payment of his winnings. The casino said that he had operated a system called edge-sorting to achieve the winnings, and that this was a form of cheating so as to excuse their payment. The system exploited tiny variances . .
Cited – Ivey v Genting Casinos UK Ltd (T/A Crockfords Club) CA 4-Nov-2016
The claimant sought recovery of his substantial winnings from the defendant gaming club. The club had resisted saying that the methods used by the claimant at cards, called, ‘edge sorting’ was a form of cheating, a criminal offence within the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 13 April 2022; Ref: scu.597672
Whether defence of insanity is available for a charge under section 2(1) which required no mens rea.
Held: Yes.
Irwin LJ, Julian Knowles J
[2017] EWHC 2855 (Admin), [2017] WLR(D) 763
Protection from Harassment Act 1997
England and Wales
Updated: 13 April 2022; Ref: scu.599704
Application for leave to appeal against conviction for possession of heroin with intent to supply.
[2016] EWCA Crim 2228
England and Wales
Updated: 13 April 2022; Ref: scu.573786
The courts awarded compensation for cheating in a game of cards where a person used a device to cause loss to the plaintiff, in this case a false card, called a ‘bumcard’
72 English Reports 899, (1606) Moo KB 776
England and Wales
Cited – Ivey v Genting Casinos UK Ltd (T/A Crockfords Club) CA 4-Nov-2016
The claimant sought recovery of his substantial winnings from the defendant gaming club. The club had resisted saying that the methods used by the claimant at cards, called, ‘edge sorting’ was a form of cheating, a criminal offence within the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 13 April 2022; Ref: scu.571236
The court considered the word ‘used’ in the context of a TV Licensing prosecution.
Held: The word ‘use’ is to be interpreted in its natural and ordinary meaning.
[1987] 1 WLR 786, [1987] 2 All ER 553, (1987) 85 Cr App R 358
England and Wales
Cited – Regina v Blake CACD 31-Jul-1996
The offence of establishing a radio station without a licence is an absolute offence; no knowledge or mens rea was needed. The presumption that mens rea was required could be rebutted where the offence concerned an issue of public safety. . .
Cited – Floe Telecom (In Administration) v Office ofCommunications; Vodafone Ltd v T-Mobile (UK) Ltd CAT 19-Nov-2004
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 13 April 2022; Ref: scu.572623
Bristol Assizes – the defendant was indicted, inter alia, with two counts of conspiring with a company. Each count concerning a separate company. The defendant was the ‘sole person in either of the companies . . responsible for any of the acts of the company and no one else had any authority to act for the company or any responsibility for the acts of the company.’
Held: Nield J said that ‘a company and a director cannot be convicted of conspiracy when the only human being who is said to have broken the law or intended to do so is the one director’
Nield J
[1966] 1 QB 233, (1966) 50 Cr App R 5
England and Wales
Cited – A Ltd and Othersi, Regina v CACD 28-Jul-2016
The Serious Fraud Office appealed against rulings on the admission of evidence after its exclusion under section 78.
Held: The appeal was allowed. The appeal had been brought within time and could proceed. Police and Criminal Evidence Act . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.570727
The court considered the offence of cheating
[1914] 10 Cr App R 54
England and Wales
Cited – Ivey v Genting Casinos UK Ltd (T/A Crockfords Club) CA 4-Nov-2016
The claimant sought recovery of his substantial winnings from the defendant gaming club. The club had resisted saying that the methods used by the claimant at cards, called, ‘edge sorting’ was a form of cheating, a criminal offence within the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.571235
Saskatchewan Court of Appeal – The defendant was accused of assault committed during the course of a game of ice hockey.
Held: (Majority) The game was very physical, but even so: ‘some forms of bodily contact carry with them such a high risk of injury and such a distinct probability of serious harm as to be beyond what, in fact, the players commonly consent to, or what, in law, they are capable of consenting to.’ (Gerwing JA)
Objective criteria are to be used to determine whether the consent defence can applym, including:
(a) the conditions in which the game was played;
(b) the nature and circumstances of the act;
(c) how much force was used;
(d) the victim’s injury, and
(e) the state of mind of the accused.
Gerwing JA, Cameron JA
(1989) 48 CCC (3d) 480
Canada
Cited – Regina v Barnes CACD 21-Dec-2004
The defendant appealed against a conviction for inflicting grievous bodily harm, after causing a serious leg injury in a football match when tackling another player.
Held: There was surprisingly little authority on when it was appropriate to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.566847
The court considered the liability of a company under provisions being, ‘with intent to deceive, made use . . of a document which was false in a material particular’
Held: The General Manager was capable of acting or speaking as the company;
Lord Caldecote
[1944] KB 146, [1944] 1 All ER 119
England and Wales
Cited – Jetivia Sa and Another v Bilta (UK) Ltd and Others SC 22-Apr-2015
The liquidators of Bilta had brought proceedings against former directors and the appellant alleging that they were party to an unlawful means conspiracy which had damaged the company by engaging in a carousel fraud with carbon credits. On the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.565997
[2015] ScotHC HCJAC – 67
Scotland
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.552284
[2014] ScotHC HCJAC – 115
Scotland
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.539865
The appellant was convicted of conspiracy to cheat the public revenue in the form of a VAT Carousel fraud.
[2012] EWCA Crim 3
England and Wales
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.450332
[2003] EWCA Crim 485
England and Wales
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.441307
Appeal from convictions of money laundering
Sir Anthony May, President of the Queen’s Bench Division
[2011] EWCA Crim 1776
Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 328
England and Wales
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.442025
The defendant appealed against his conviction for 13 murders and 7 attempted murders saying that his plea of diminished responsibility should not have been rejected.
Held: The appeal failed. Lord Lane CJ said: ‘The psychiatrists all substantially agreed that in a case such as this, the diagnosis was necessarily based very largely, if not entirely, upon what the accused man had told them. Again there was a general consensus of opinion between the medical men that if the accused man really believed that what he was telling the doctors was true, namely that he was on a divinely inspired mission to kill prostitutes, then the diagnoses would be correct. There was also a consensus that if on the other hand what this man told them upon the more important features of the case was to his knowledge false and was a deliberate lie, then their diagnosis in its turn would be falsified.’ and ‘The matter was thrashed out at great length before the jury and the jury came to the conclusion that . . this man was probably not telling the truth to the doctors and accordingly their diagnosis was falsified, through no fault of theirs.’
Lord Lane CJ
Unreported, 24 May 1982
Original Appeal – Coonan (Formerly Sutcliffe), Regina v CACD 14-Jan-2011
The claimant, formerly known as Peter Sutcliffe, had been convicted in 1981 for thirteen murders and 7 attempted murders. His plea of diminished responsibility was rejected. The judge had recommended a minimum term of 30 years for the life sentence, . .
Original Appeal – Regina v Coonan (Formerly Sutcliffe) QBD 16-Jul-2010
The respondent had been convicted of thirteen murders and eight attempted murders. He had claimed to have been acting in response to a divine voice heard when he worked in a graveyard. He was diagnosed a paranoid schizophrenic. The murders had . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.430459
The court considered that the offence of inciting a child to commit an indecent act can be committed simply by inactivity in not preventing the child from committing the indecent act, thereby encouraging it.
[1977] 2 All ER 859
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.416059
[1979] 69 CAR 324
Cited – Regina v Cooper CACD 5-May-2010
The defendant appealed his conviction for perjury. On being accused of using a mobile phone when driving, he claimed to have been using a hands free system. Evidence later showed that his kit had been fitted only after the date of the alleged . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.409988
(Central Criminal Court)
[2010] EW Misc 6 (CrimC)
England and Wales
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.406660
[2009] EWCA Crim 2579
England and Wales
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.406137
Appeal against the appellant’s conviction on one count of conspiracy to supply a class A drug, and on two counts of conspiring to acquire criminal property.
[2010] EWCA Crim 708
England and Wales
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.406626
The defendant appealed against his conviction for obstructing a police officer in the execution of his duty. The officers attended the house to search a bedroom of another tenant. The rooms were occupied separately by tenants each with their own locked rooms. The officers sought to search the defendant’s bedroom, and he obstructed them. He said that he had a right to exclude them.
Held: The appeal failed. There is no single decisive test for when properties were occupied as one or as several dwellings, but the defendant here did occupy a separate room and could lawfully exclude the officers from it. However the defendant had also obstructed the police by himself struggling to enter the room being searched.
Lord Justice Elias and Mr Justice Openshaw
Police Act 1996 89(2), Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1964 17
England and Wales
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.381616
Certiorari to remove conviction of recusancy denied
[1795] EngR 1574, (1795) 1 Salk 145, (1795) 91 ER 134 (C)
England and Wales
See Also – Dr Sands’s Case 1738
. .
See Also – Sir George Sands’s Case 1795
. .
See Also – Sands’s Case 1803
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.353919
The defendant contracted in writing with the guardians of a parish to supply and deliver for a certain term to the out-door poor, at such times as the guardians should direct, loaves of bread of three and a half pounds weight each. The guardians were, during thesaid term, to pay the defendant after certain rates and prices for the bread so supplied, and of which a bill of particulars should have been sent. The contract contained a provision that in case the defendant broke the terms of his contract in any of the ways therein named, one of which was by a deficiency in the weight stated and charged for in the said bill of particulars, the guardians might employ other persons to supply the bread, and charge the defendant with the costs of such supply above the price contracted for, and might retain any moneys due to te defendant under the contract at the time of such breach towards such costs, or the damages which the board might sustain, and might also put in suit against the defendant a bond which he then executed, and which was conditioned for the due performance of is contract. The indictment contained ten counts, the first seven of which were in substance the same, and charged the defendant with a common law misdemeanour , in supplyimg and delivering, as such contracor, loaves of bread to different poor persons which loaves were deficient in weight, intending to injure and defraud such poor persons and to deprive them of proper and sufficient food and sustenance, and to endanger their healths and constitutions, and to cheat and defraud the said guardians.
[1854] EngR 35, (1854-55) Dears 515, (1854) 169 ER 826
England and Wales
see Also – Regina v John Eagleton (No 1) 1854
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.292892
[1852] EngR 35, (1852) Dears 60, (1852) 169 ER 636
England and Wales
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.295158
[1851] EngR 640, (1851) 6 Exch 921, (1851) 155 ER 820
England and Wales
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.296956
[1839] EngR 535, (1839) 2 M and Rob 192, (1839) 174 ER 259
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.311067