The Gazette 1967/71

The appellant, who was resident in Northern Ireland, posted letters in Northern Ireland to Littlewoods and Vernons, football pools promoters, in Liverpool, falsely claiming that he had correctly forecast the results of certain competitions and was entitled to the winnings. [Regina v. Baxter. Court of Appeal. The Times, 12 February, 1971.] A person cannot be said to be driving a motor car within the meaning of section 2(1) of the Road Safety Act, 1967, when he has been effectively prevented from so doing, their Lordships decided in allowing an appeal by case stated by Henry Harman, from his con viction by Bishop's Stortford justices of driving a motor vehicle with an excess proportion of alcohol in his blood, contrary to section 1(1) of the Act. [Harman V. Wardrop Q.B.D. The Times, 12 February, 1971.] The approach of cases involving section 11 of the Civil Evidence Act, 1968, was considered by Mr. Justice Stirling when giving judgment granting a decree nisi to a wife who petitioned on the ground of rape. The husband had been found guilty of rape at assizes and had been sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. Before, at and after the trial he had vigorously protested innocence, claiming he had been wrongly identified at a parade. His Lordship said that the wife, Mrs. Beryl Wright, of Sudbury, Suffolk, had to make out her case of rape. She relied on section 11(1) and (2), which not only made the conviction evidence in subsequent civil proceedings but had the effect that the husband must be taken to have committed the offence unless the contrary was proved; he undertook the burden of overthrowing the conviction. The Court of Appeal had acepted that he must satisfy such onus on the balance of probability. [Wright v. Wright. Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Div. The Times, 15 February, 1971.] When giving reasons for dismissing last November two appeals against convictions for murder, their Lord ships stated that there was no rule that, in cases of murder where an issue of self-defence was left to the jury that if they considered that excessive force had been used in defence they should return a verdict of man slaughter. [Palmer v. The Queen. Irving v The Queen. Privy Council. The Times, 18 February, 1971.] A company whose fuel store leaked a large quantity of oil into the Severn, after an unauthorised person had tampered with a valve, was held not to have caused poisonous, noxious or polluting matter to enter the river as the overwhelming cause of the pollution was the act of a third party. [Impress (Worcester) Ltd v. Rees. Q.B.D. The Times, 19 February, 1971.] Before Mr. Justice Fenton Atkinson, Mr. Justice Lyell and Mr. Justice Mars-Jones. Two persons who had hin dered the police by denying that they had seen two lorries which they knew had been stolen had been rightly con victed under section 3 (1) of the Criminal Law Act, 1967, 255

Contract Indemnities given to an employer by a main contractor under the Institution of Civil Engineers' Conditions of Contract and to the main contractor by a subcontractor under a subcontract were held not to cover costs in curred in defending an impecunious and legally aided plaintiff's unsuccessful claim for damages for personal injuries brought against all three parties. [Richardson v. Buckinghamshire County Council and Others. Court of Appeal. The Times, 15 February, 1971.] A sick and benevolent fund which had been totally inactive for four years was held not to have been dis solved. Nor are its assets distributable. His Lordship was giving judgment on a summons by persons having control of the William Denby and Sons Ltd Sick and Benevolent Fund, asking inter alia, whether the fund ought to be distributed and if so, to whom. The defendants were Mr. James Wilks. a past member who left the company in 1956; Mr. Clement Hall, who left on October 30, 1963, when the fund first became inactive; and Mr. Stanley Holmes, who is still employed by the company. [In Re William Denby and Sons Ltd. Sick and Benev olent Fund. Ch. Div. The Times, 2 March, 1971.] Suppliers who compounded for mink breeders a feed ing stuff to a formula supplied by the mink breeders but which included herring meal affected by a preservative so that it was toxic to mink as a result of which large numbers died were, inter alia, in breach of the implied term that the "gods" should be reasonably fit for the purpose of feeding to mink under section 14 (1) of the Sale of Goods Act, 1893. Their Lordships so held, though differing on the application of section 13 and 14 (2), when they allowed an appeal by Ashington Piggeries Ltd. and Fur Farm Suppliers Ltd., mink breeders, of Poole, Dorset, from the decision of the Court of Appeal (Lord Justice Davies, Lord Justice Russell and Lord Justice Megaw) in July, 1969, that they were liable to Christopher Hill Ltd. for the price of a mink food known as "King Size". [Ashington Piggeries Ltd. and Others v. Christopher Hill Ltd. Christopher Hill Ltd., v. Norsildnel. House of Lords. The Times, 25 February, 1971.] Costs [See under Contract. Richardson v. Buckinghamshire County Council and Others.] Crime Gypsies who "encamp' by the highway can only be convicted under section 127 of the Highways Act, 1959, for the actual setting up of the camp and not for the continuation of the camp [Smith v. Wood. Q.B.D. The Times, 12 February, 1971.] The Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by Robert Baxter against conviction at Liverpool Crown Court on three counts of attempting to obtain property by deception.