The Gazette 1967/71

deficiency is wholly attributable to factors for which reasonable allowance has been made. F. W. Woolworth & Co. Ltd. v. Gray, Q.B.D. 18/2/70. A constable requiring a motorist to take a breath test is presumed to be acting in good faith and reasonably without negligence, even though the manufacturers' instructions for use of the breathalyser device are not complied with, their Lordships stated when dismissing a motorist's appeal against conviction for driving with an excessive proportion of alcohol in his blood contrary to section 1 (1) of the Road Safety Act, 1967. The Court said that the prosecution did not have initially to negative bad faith and negligence, but if the points were raised by the defence they had to be re butted, so that at the end of the day the burden of proof was still with the prosecution. Rendell v. Hooper, Q.B.D. 9/3/70. Practice Note (England) Where applications for leave to appeal are made without arguable grounds, judges are to make wider use of their discretionary power to direct that part of the time the prisoner has spent in custody shall not count towards his sentence. The object is to reduce the delays, now unacceptable, caused by the rapid rise in the number of applications for leave, and to enable prompt attention to be given to meritorious cases by deterring the unmeritorious applications that stand in their way. Damages The Court upheld an award of damages totalling £46,650 to a mother of two young children who became a quadriplegic after being injured in a car accident in 1967. The sum included an award to her husband for future housekeeping expenses. The appeal, on quantum only, was from the judgment of Mr. Justice Shaw at Leicester Assizes last June, when he awarded to Mrs. Patricia Fowler £39,450, being £1,350 agreed special damage, £500 for loss of expec tation of life, £9,600 for future nursing, £3,000 for the cost of moving house to a bungalow and making necessary adaptations, and £25,000 for pain and suffer ing and loss of amenity. The judge also awarded £7,200 to her husband, Mr. Brian Fowler, for housekeeping appealed. Fowler and Another v. Grace, C.A.—20/2/70. Their Lordships dismissed an appeal by the defendant, Mr. Gordon Smith, of Middlesex, from a decision of Mr. Justice Melford Stevenson, last July, awarding the plain tiff, Mr. James Jeffery, of Surrey, suing as the adminis trator of his deceased wife, £5,200 damages for her death in a road accident. Claims made by Mr. Jeffrey in respect of his three infant children had been settled. The defendant appealed on liability and on damages. Jeffery v. Smith, Court of Appeal 10/3/70. A man who at the age of 38 suffered brain damage resulting in loss of amenities, including organic loss of sexual potency and loss of taste and smell, had his damages for those injuries increased from £3,000 to £7,000, and damages for loss of future earnings put up from £5,824 to £7,280. Lord Denning said that a man could get damages for loss of consortium but a wife could not; and where a man was rendered sexually impotent 119

Crime The Court of Appeal (Lord Justice Widgery, Lord Justice Cross and Mr. Justice Brabin) certified that a point of law of general public importance was involved in their decision quashing the conviction of Dharam Singh Bhagwan (The Times, February 18). The appellant, a citizen of India, had been convicted of "conspiracy to evade the control" on immigration imposed by the Commonwealth Immigrants Act, 1962. The point certified was: "Whether an indictment for conspiracy will lie against a Commonwealth immigrant who, in combination with others, entered the United Kingdom between 1962 and 1968 by evading examination by an immigration officer and a medical examination and with If consecutive sentences of not more than six months' imprisonment each are imposed they must be suspended, the Court held when it allowed an appeal by Raymond March against two consecutive sentences of six months and two concurrent sentences of three months, and ordered that each sentence should be suspended for two years. Regina v. March. Court of Appeal 23/3/'70. The Divisional Court dismissed an appeal by the North Western Gas Board against their conviction by Warrington justices on a charge that when offering to supply gas fires, they gave a written indication likely to be taken as an indication that the goods were being offered at a price £3 less than that at which they were in fact being offered, contrary to sections 11(2) and 18 The Lord Chief Justice, sitting with Mr. Justice Ashworth and Mr. Justice Donaldson in the Court of Appeal, said that where there was a conflict of evidence between police evidence ind the defendant's and one or other was lying, no words were to be used in the summing up which suggested that an acquittal would ruin the careers of the police witnesses. Regina v. Culvertson Court of Appeal 17/2/'70. A car owner who did not intend to make a false declaration when signing an application for a new vehicle excise licence without checking the particulars his daughter had filled in on the form, was not guilty of a charge of making a "declaration which to his knowledge was false" even though, if he had checked the form, he would have known that one of the particulars was false. Bloomfield v. Williams Q.B.D. 24/2/70. A partner can still be convicted of the theft of partnership property under the Theft Act, 1968, even though there is now no specific provision in its dealing with partners, as in the Larceny Act, '916, provided that the ingredients of the offence are present. Regina v. Bonner, Court of Appeal 24/2/70. The Divisional Court held that if goods prepacked or in a container marked with the quantity are found to be less in quantity than that stated, retailers charged with an offence contrary to section 24 (3) of the Weights and Measures Act, 1963, can avail themselves of the defence within section 26 (2) if they prove that the out holding an employment voucher". Regina v. Bhagwan, Q.B.D. 23/2/'70. of the Trade Descriptrons Act, 1968. North Western Gas Board v. Aspden.