Criminal Law & Practice in Scotland
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X5602900303 |
| Date | 01 July 1956 |
| Published date | 01 July 1956 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
CRIMINAL
LAW
AND
PRACTICE
IN
SCOTLAND 177
Criminal
Law
&
Practice
in
Scotland
PROOF
OF DIFFERENT STATEMENTS AT DIFFERENT TIMES
H.M.
Advocate v. Brannan (1956, S.L.T. 51)
WHILE as a general rule police officers may
not
give evidence as
to what witnesses have said to them in the course of their
enquiries, there are exceptions, and the circumstances of this case
clearly show such an exception.
In the course of a trial for assault in the Sheriff Court at Dundee
the Depute Procurator-Fiscal pointed out to two of the witnesses
that
their evidence in court contradicted certain statements which they had
made to police officers at an earlier date. Both witnesses denied this,
and the statements were then put specifically to them, and denied.
When the police officer who had taken the statements was giving
evidence the Depute Procurator-Fiscal proceeded to ask him what the
witnesses had said to him. This line of evidence was immediately
objected to by the Defence. The Sheriff-Principal, however, allowed
the evidence to be received on the view that the statements had been
specificallyput to the witnesses, but only for the purpose of discrediting
the civilian witnesses. In his charge to the jury, at the close of the
case, the Sheriff-Principal very carefully warned the
jury
of
the effect
of this evidence. He told them in very plain words that if they believed
the police constable then they must discredit the witnesses in question,
but that they could
not
use that evidence for any other purpose, and
went out of his way to point out that it could not be used as corrobor-
ation.
GOODS
VEHICLES-'C'
LICENCE-KEEPING
OF RECORDS
Mackie v. Macleod (1956, S.L.T. (Notes) 19)
The Goods Vehicles (Keeping of Records) Regulations, 1935,
provide for the keeping of records by drivers of vehicles operated
under a'C' Licence. Regulation 5 defines "Driver" and "Part-time
driver" and Regulation 6 requires the keeping of certain records by
such drivers.
In order to keep their buses in proper order Edinburgh Corporation
employed a fitter to carry out minor repairs to their vehicles. Certain
of his work was done in the garage, but, on occasion, if a vehicle
broke down outside the garage, the man went out with a truck and
tools and carried out the repair on the spot. On one such occasion,
while driving the truck, he was stopped by Traffic Officers and asked
for his records, which he was unable to produce. On this failure he
was charged and later convicted in the local Sheriff Court.
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