The Gazette 1972

CURRENT LAW DIGEST SELECTED

All references to dates relate to The Ti:nes newspaper.

sale" a car they auctioned, and therefore could not be convicted of the offence of offering to sell an unroadworthy car contrary to Section 68 of the Road Traffic Act, 1960, as amended—now Section 60 of the Road Traffic Act 1967. British Car Auctions Ltd. v Wright; Q.B. Division; 12/7/72. Before Lord Reid, Lord Morris of Borth-y-Gest, Viscount Dilhorne, Lord Diplock and Lord Kilbrandon. The behaviour of an anti-apartheid demonstrator at Wimble- don last year which annoyed the spectators and caused them to protest vehemently was not "insulting behaviour" within Section 5 of the Public Order Act, 1936. The word "insulting" in that context has to be given its ordinary meaning and is not a question of law. Brutus v Cozens; House of Lords; 19/7/1972. Before Lord Justice Roskill, Mr. Justice Milmo and Mr. Justice Bridge. The Court dismissed appeals by Clarksons Holidays Ltd. against their conviction at Halifax Quarter Sessions (Recorder, Mr. J. A. Cotton) on seven out of eight counts of recklessly making false statements in their 1970 holiday brochure, con- trary to Section 14 (1) of the Trade Descriptions Act, 1968, regarding the nature and provision of facilities and accommo- dation at the Hotel Calypso in Benidorm, Spain. Rcgina v Clarksons Holidays Ltd.; Court of Appeal; 7/7/72. Before Lord Widgery, the Lord Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Melford Stevenson and Mr. Justice Milmo. The fact that a publican gave S. A. Latter, aged 39, motor mechanic, three bottles of diabetic lager without telling him that it was stronger than ordinary lager was held to be a special reason for not imposing the mandatory disqualification for driving with an excess of blood alcohol contrary to Section 1 (1) of the Road Safety Act, 1967. Alexander v Latter; Q.B. Division; 12/7/1972. Before Lord Justice Edmund Davies, Lord Justice Orr and Mr. Justice Browne. The Court held that "malicious damage" of whatever value and extent committed between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., which entitled a police officer to arrest under Section 61 of the Malicious Damage Act, 1861, was an arrestable offence within Section 2 (4) of the Criminal Law Act, 1967, and that it was not necessary, in order to justify entry into property to arrest a person under Section 2 (6) of the 1967 Act, that the police officer who first suspects the person of having committed an arrestable offence and seeks to arrest him under Section 4 (4) of the 1967 Act was the same person who effected entry in order to arrest under Section 2 (6). Regina v Francis, Court of Appeal; 4/7/1972. Before Lord Widgery, the Lord Chief Justice, Mr. Justice MacKenna and Mr. Justice Willis. When the Secretary of State approved the Alcotest (R) 80 device for the purposes of breath tests under the Road Safety Act, 197, he must be assumed to have had in mind that the device had an in-built potential of corrosion of the wire gauze holding the crystals in place in the tube. Their Lordships so stated when dismissing an appeal by L. A. Parsons, pickling factory owner, of Llanelli, from his conviction at Carmarthenshire Quarter Sessions (Deputy Chair- man, Mr. S. J. Havard Evans) after a three-day trial last August of driving with an excess proportion of alcohol in his blood, contrary to Section 1 (1) of the Act. He was fined £30, disqualified for three years and ordered to pay costs. Regina v Parsons; Court of Appeal; 29/6/1972. Before Lord Widgery, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Justice Edmund Davies, Lord Justice Orr, Mr. Justice Browne and Mr. Justice Willis. A hopelessly corrupt and wholly unreliable transcript of a summing-up was not of itself a ground for saying that a conviction was unsafe and unsatisfactory. A five-judge court dismissed an appeal by J. E. Le-Caer, aged 47, club proprietor, of Putney, from his conviction for malicious wounding at Inner London Quarter Sessions (Deputy Chairman, Judge Lermon, Q.C.) in October. An appeal against a two years' sentence was allowed, the sentence being reduced to one year. Regina v Le-Caer; Court of Appeal; 26/6/1972.

In reading these cases note should be taken of the differences in English and Irish statute law.

Arbitration An order enabling an English company to enforce an arbi- trators' non-speaking award of £35,855 against a Rumanian state company for non-delivery of a raw beet sugar consign- ment from Rumania was made by Mr. Justice Mocatta. Prodexport State Company for Foreign Trade v E.D.&F. Man Ltd.; Family Division; 13/7/1972. Contract Before Lord Denning, the Master of the Rolls, Lord Justice Phillimore and Lord Justice Cairns. Judgments delivered July 3rd. Where a contract imports the RIBA conditions, sums certi- fied by the architects as due for completed work must be passed on to subsubcontractors for work done; and the sub- contractors cannot deduct from a claim for those sums amounts said to be due for putting right the allegedly defective work done by the subsubcontractors. Carten Horsley (Engineers) Ltd. and Others v Dawnays Ltd.; Court of Appeal; 4/7/1972. Hire Contract Before Lord Widgery, the Lord Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Melford Stevenson and Mr. Justice Milmo. Television dealers who installed a set for a minor at his address but entered into a hiring agreement with one of his reatives were unsuccessful in an appeal against conviction for contravening Section 5 (1) (a) of the Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1967, by failing to notify the Postmaster General of the letting to the minor. Pageantry Radio and T.V. Co.. Ltd. v Connell; Galione v Connell; Q.B. Division; 18/7/1972. Restraint of Trade Before Lord Justice Davies, Lord Justice Buckley and Lord Justice Stephenson. Judgments delivered June 30th. An appeal to determine the validity of a covenant in restraint of trade in a standard form of contract used by .hairdressers was competent even though the period covered by the restraint had expired. Their Lordships allowed the appeal, by Marion White Limited, Harpenden, against the decision of Deputy Judge Solomon at Bletchley and Leighton Buzzard County Court last November that a covenant imposing restraint of trade on Miss Ann Francis, of Wing, was contrary to public policy and void, and granted a declaration that the covenant was valid. Marion White Ltd. v Francis; Court of Appeal; 3/7/1972. Crime Before Lord Wilberforce, Lord Pearson, Lord Simon of Glaisdale, Lord Cross of Chelsea and Lord Salmon. To state as a proposition that men are incapable of being depraved and corrupted by pornographic books because they are addicts of such books is contrary to the whole basis of the Obscene Publications Acts, 1959. The Act is not merely con- cerned with the once for all corruption of the wholly innocent; it equally protects the less innocent from further corruption and the addict from feeding or increasing his addiction. Director of Public Prosecutions v Whyte and Another; House of Lords; 19/7/1972. Before Lord Widgery, the Lord Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Melford Stevenson and Mr. Justice Milmo. In arriving at the value of blue publications for the purpose of determining a fine for evading the prohibition on their importation, the Court is not restricted by distinctions between the so-called black market and white market. What has to be sought is the price which a willing seller would accept from a willing buyer at the port or airport where the goods are landed. Byrne v Low; Q.B. Division; 14/7/1972. Before Lord Widgery, the Lord Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Melford Stevenson and Mr. Justice Milmo. As a matter of strict law car auctioneers did not "offer for

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