The prosecutor appealed against the defendant’s acquittal for causing a public nuisance in having approached a woman police officer posing as a prostitute. He said that as a single act it could not amount to a nuisance. The prosecutor argued that the individual act of this defendant must be seen in the context of the fact that there are lots of similar wholly independent acts committed by others, but that the consequence of all these acts taken together is to cause a nuisance to the public.
Held: There was no basis for saying that a common injury was sustained when focusing simply on this defendant approaching a single woman. Having rejected a series of individual acts as common injury, it would not even be a common or public nuisance to approach lots of women. The prosecution’s argument was quite hopeless: ‘Unless Parliament stipulates otherwise, a defendant does not become criminally liable because of the acts of others. It is not alleged that there is a conspiracy or a joint enterprise or anything of that nature. Single otherwise lawful acts do not become criminal because a defendant knows or ought to know that others are carrying out or are likely to be carrying out similar otherwise lawful activities. This is an attempt by the prosecution to have conduct which they consider to be reprehensible to be declared criminal. Furthermore they seek to do this by what is in my judgment a highly artificial and unprincipled extension of established doctrine. The courts should have no truck with it, and I do not.’
Elias J, Calvert-Smith J
[2010] EWHC 340 (Admin)
Bailii
Sexual Offences Act 1985 1 2
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Attorney-General v PYA Quarries Ltd CA 1957
In a relator action, an injunction was sought to prevent the respondent from emitting quantities of dust from their quarry. The court had to decide what were the constituents of the offence of a public nuisance, and how this differed from a private . .
Cited – Regina v Rimmington; Regina v Goldstein HL 21-Jul-2005
Common Law – Public Nuisance – Extent
The House considered the elements of the common law offence of public nuisance. One defendant faced accusations of having sent racially offensive materials to individuals. The second was accused of sending an envelope including salt to a friend as a . .
These lists may be incomplete.
Updated: 20 June 2021; Ref: scu.401861
