The applicant had been charged before the justices with indictable offences. He consented to summary trial but it had not been explained to him that he might be committed to the Quarter Sessions for sentence.
Held: The court allowed certiorari.
Lord Goddard CJ described the statutory provisions in question as ‘peremptory’ because ‘for many centuries in English history an indictable offence could only be tried by a jury and the power of magistrates to try cases of theft and false pretences is purely the creation of statute’. He concluded: ‘The convictions must be quashed because the justices took upon themselves, although with the consent of the prisoner, to try offences summarily without a strict compliance with the provisions of the Act, which alone allow an indictable offence to be tried summarily
In this case we hold that the convictions were bad and therefore the case could not be sent forward for sentence to quarter sessions, because the justices never had jurisdiction to try it because the provisions of the section had not strictly been complied with.’
Judges:
Lord Goddard CJ
Citations:
[1952] 2 QB 366
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v Cockshott and Others 1898
The defendant had not been informed of his right to be tried by a jury (on an either way offence) before he pleaded guilty in the magistrates’ court.
Held: The appeal succeeded. The guilty plea was bad.
Wright J discussed the argument . .
Cited by:
Cited – Westminster City Council v Owadally and Another Admn 17-May-2017
Defendant must plea to charge, and not counsel
The defendants had, through their barrister, entered pleas of guilty, but the crown court had declared the convictions invalid because this had to have been done by the defendants personally, and remitted the cases and the confiscation proceedings . .
Cited – Rahmdezfouli, Regina (on The Application of) v Crown Court Sitting At Wood Green and Another Admn 9-Oct-2013
The appellant challenged the refusal to allow him to vacate a guilty plea to a charge of failures to comply with a planning enforcement notice. It had been agreed that the magistrates had failed to ask the two questions required under the 1980 Act. . .
Cited – Westminster City Council v Owadally and Another Admn 17-May-2017
Defendant must plea to charge, and not counsel
The defendants had, through their barrister, entered pleas of guilty, but the crown court had declared the convictions invalid because this had to have been done by the defendants personally, and remitted the cases and the confiscation proceedings . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Practice
Updated: 06 May 2022; Ref: scu.583987