PC (Trinidad and Tobago) Disciplinary proceedings had commenced against the appellant, the chief magistrate, but the time limits had not been followed. The appellant argued that the time limits were mandatory.
Held: When considering time limits, it is better to avoid words such as ‘mandatory’ and ‘directory’. Bearing in mind the minimal impact of the failures on the appellant, his appeal was dismissed.
Tipping J: ‘At the outset their Lordships observe that it seems highly unlikely that the Commission can have intended that breaches of time limits at the investigation stage would inevitably prevent it from discharging its public function and duty of inquiring into and, if appropriate, prosecuting relevant indiscipline or misconduct. A self-imposed fetter of such a kind on the discharge of an important public function would seem inimical to the whole purpose of the investigation and disciplinary regime.’ and ‘. . . If a complaint is made about the non-fulfilment of a time limit the giving of relief will usually be discretionary. This discretionary element to which Lord Hailsham referred [in the London and Clydeside Estates case] underlines the fact that problems arising from breach of time limits and other like procedural flaws are not generally susceptible of rigid classification or black and white a priori rules. With this in mind their Lordships note that in the present case the delays were in good faith, they were not lengthy and they were entirely understandable. The appellant suffered no material prejudice; no fair trial considerations were or could have been raised, and no fundamental human rights are in issue.’
Lord Bingham of Cornhill Lord Steyn Lord Hope of Craighead Lord Scott of Foscote The Rt. Hon. Justice Tipping
(Appeal No 34 of 2001), [2002] UKPC 34, [2003] 1 LRC 422
PC, Bailii, PC
Citing:
Cited – Wang v Commissioner of Inland Revenue PC 19-Oct-1994
(Hong Kong) At first instance the judge found that the deputy commissioner lacked jurisdiction to make two determinations since he had not done so within a reasonable time required by the imperative language of the statute. The Court of Appeal . .
Cited – New Zealand Institute of Agriculture Science Inc v Ellesmere County 1976
(New Zealand High Court) Cooke J said: ‘Whether non-compliance with a procedural requirement is fatal turns less on attaching a perhaps indefinite label to that requirement than on considering its place in the scheme of the Act or regulations and . .
Cited by:
Cited – Regina v Soneji and Bullen HL 21-Jul-2005
The defendants had had confiscation orders made against them. They had appealed on the basis that the orders were made more than six months after sentence. The prosecutor now appealed saying that the fact that the order were not timely did not . .
Cited – North Somerset District Council v Honda Motor Europe Ltd and Others QBD 2-Jul-2010
Deleayed Rates Claims Service made them Defective
The council claimed that the defendants were liable for business rates. The defendants said that the notices were defective in not having been served ‘as soon as practicable’, and further that they should not be enforced since the delay had created . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Legal Professions, Commonwealth
Updated: 21 December 2021; Ref: scu.174493