The appellant, in England, sent false hire purchase agreements to a company in Jersey, who posted back cheques to him. The court analysed the transaction in contractual terms, and held that as the post office was the appellant’s agent to carry the cheques they had in law been ‘obtained’ by him in Jersey.
Held: As to jurisdiction, applying Ellis: ‘To support the charge, the obtaining relied upon must be an obtaining of the property in the thing charged, and not merely possession or control of it; and when this principle is applied to a cheque, it means that the accused obtains the cheque, when the victim makes actual delivery of it to him, or makes constructive delivery by handing the cheque to an agent duty appointed by the accused to receive it on his behalf.’
Citations:
(1962) 46 Cr App R 90, [1963] 1 QB 8
Statutes:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v Ellis 1899
In the case of what is a result crime in English Law, the offence is committed in England and justiciable by an English court if any part of the proscribed result takes place in England. The gist of the offence of obtaining by false pretences lies . .
Cited by:
Cited – Regina v Manning CACD 24-Jun-1998
The defendant appealed his conviction for obtaining property by deception where part of the offence had taken place abroad.
Held: Smith should be overturned. The last act or terminatory theory remains the binding common law of England and . .
Cited – Director of Public Prosecutions v Stonehouse HL 1977
The defendant had been charged with attempting to obtain property by deception by fabricating his death by drowning in the sea off Miami in Florida. The final act alleged to constitute the offence occurred outside the jurisdiction of the English . .
Followed – Governor of Pentonville Prison ex parte Khubchandani QBD 1980
The court considered whether certain conduct, part of which took place in Ghana, would, mutatis mutandis , have constituted an offence over which the English court had jurisdiction.
Held: ‘Where a deception is made in this country, but the . .
Cited – Regina v Thompson 1984
The appellant, in Kuwait, had fraudulently caused a bank there to credit his bank balances in England.
Held: The court discussed its jurisdiction: ‘It is of course a basic principle of our criminal law that no British subject can be tried . .
Cited – Treacy v Director of Public Prosecutions HL 1970
Blackmail was alleged under section 21 of the 1968 Act, the letter making the unwarranted demand with menaces having been posted from England to an intended victim in Germany.
Held: The appeal was dismissed. To allow an English court to have . .
Cited – Purdy, Regina (on the Application of) v Director of Public Prosecutions HL 30-Jul-2009
Need for Certainty in Scope of Offence
The appellant suffered a severe chronic illness and anticipated that she might want to go to Switzerland to commit suicide. She would need her husband to accompany her, and sought an order requiring the respondent to provide clear guidelines on the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime
Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.196562