swarb.co.uk - law index
These cases are from the lawindexpro database. They are now being transferred to the swarb.co.uk website in a better form. As a case is published there, an entry here will link to it. The swarb.co.uk site includes many later cases.
Elections - From: 1970 To: 1979
This page lists 10 cases, and was prepared on 21 May 2019.
McWhirter v Platten [1970] 1 QB 508
1970
QBD
Elections, Crime
An order was made for the inspection of uncounted ballot papers before the institution of a prosecution under the Act, on the ground that the offenders, and the nature of offences could not be ascertained until the ballot papers had been inspected.
Representation of the People Act 1983
1 Citers
Levers v Morris [1972] 1 QB 221
1972
QBD
Elections
The court drew a lot to decide the outcome of a drawn election.
Representation of the People Act 1949 37(1)
1 Citers
Attorney-General, ex rel McWhirter v Independent Broadcasting Authority [1973] 1 QB 629; [1972] CMLR 882
1972
CA
Lord Denning MR
Media, Elections, Constitutional
The court should not interfere in decisions made by broadcasting companies allocating television time to parties before elections unless it is of the view that they were irrational in not giving enough weight to those matters in allocating it only one broadcast.
The Bill of Rights does not restrict the Crown's prerogative powers in relation to foreign affairs: "the Crown retained, as fully as ever, the prerogative of the treaty-making power" and "Even though the Treaty of Rome has been signed, it has no effect, so far as these courts are concerned, until it is made an Act of Parliament. Once it is implemented by an Act of Parliament, these courts must go by the Act of Parliament. Until that day comes, we take no notice of it."
1 Citers
Morgan v Simpson [1975] 1 QB 151; [1974] 3 All ER 722; [1974] 3 WLR 517
1974
CA
Lord Denning MR, Stephenson LJ
Elections, Constitutional
Voting papers that were invalid as a result of minor administrative errors by officials (and not the voters). Counting the invalid votes would have affected the election outcome. Held: The election was declared void. Section 37(1) was not available to cure the defects, but rather it was to be used to ask whether the defects had affected the outcome.
Lord Denning MR commented on parliamentary elections conducted more than a century earlier by poll whereby a voter's name, qualification and vote were recorded in a book open for public inspection, saying: "Such was the method of election at common law. It was open. Not by secret ballot. Being open, it was disgraced by abuses of every kind, especially at parliamentary elections. Bribery, corruption, treating, personation, were rampant." and "An election petition is a serious - and expensive - matter and is not lightly to be set aside."
Stephenson LJ said: "For an election to be conducted substantially in accordance with that law there must be a real election by ballot and no such substantial departure from the procedure laid down by Parliament as to make the ordinary man condemn the election as a sham or a travesty of an election by ballot."
Representation of the People Act 1949 37(1)
1 Citers
X v United Kingdom; ECHR 3-Oct-1975 - 7096/75
Director of Public Prosecutions v Luft; HL 26-May-1976 - [1976] UKHL 4; [1977] AC 962; [1976] 2 All ER 569; [1976] 3 WLR 32
Fairbairn v Scottish National Party (1979) SC 393
1979
Lord Ross
Elections, Scotland
Lord Ross held that a statement made during the course of an election campaign, which suggested that the pursuer (a member of parliament) did not collect his constituency mail from the House of Commons Post office was an attack on his character as a political representative but did not amount to an attack on his honour, veracity or purity. He rejected a claim of electoral malpractice, and said: "that every false statement in relation to thee public character of a candidate may in one sense reflect upon the candidate's personal character, but before there can be an illegal practice in terms of the statute, the false statement of fact must be directly related to the personal character of conduct of the candidate."
1 Cites
1 Citers
X v United Kingdom (1979) 15 DR 137
1979
ECHR
Human Rights, Elections
(Commission) The claimant sought admission of her complaint that being employed by the European Commission and resident in Belgium she had lost her right to vote. She contrasted her position with that of members of the armed forces and members of diplomatic missions who retained their votes though overseas. Held: The complaint was inadmissible. The comparators remained in the employment of the UK government and were sent overseas under compulsion. The discrimination was justified. They were resident-citizens, in contrast to the applicant who was living abroad voluntarily.
1 Citers
McWhirter and Wilson v Independent Television Authority [1979] SC 351
1979
OHCS
Media, Scotland, Elections, Judicial Review
The Independent Broadcasting Authority in the exercise of its powers under the Act were susceptible to judicial review.
Television Act 1964
Wilson v Independent Broadcasting Authority [1979] SC 351 OH; [1979] SLT 279
1979
OHCS
Lord Ross
Elections, Media, Scotland
In the lead up to the Scottish referendum on Devolution, the Authority required the broadcasters to carry party political broadcasts for each of the four main parties. Three parties favoured voting yes in the referendum, and the authority was injuncted by those opposing the Yes campaign. Held: The injunction was set aside. The Act required the Authority to maintain a balance of approximately for each case. The court considered how the broadcasting media should achieve balance during elections.
Lord Ross said: "I see no reason in principle why an individual should not sue in order to prevent a breach by a public body of a duty owed by that public body to the public. It may well be that the Lord Advocate could be a petitioner if the interests of the public as a whole were affected..., but I see no reason why an individual should not sue provided always that the individual can qualify an interest.
Having considered the petitioners' averments, I am of the opinion that the petitioners have averred sufficient interest.
(1) They are voters and the Referendum gives them the choice to say 'Yes' or 'No'.
(2) They belong to an organisation or group who apparently believe that the question should be answered 'No'.
(3) It is implicit in the name of the organisation or group that the petitioners wish to persuade other voters to vote 'No'.
It is plain from the petition and the answers that the petitioners and the political parties believe that the programmes are likely to be influential upon the electorate in Scotland, and if that is so, the petitioners have an interest to see that the respondents do not act in breach of any statutory duties in relation to such programmes."
Broadcasting Act 1990
1 Citers
