Appeals to Quarter Sessions after Committal for Sentence
| DOI | 10.1177/002201835001400109 |
| Published date | 01 January 1950 |
| Date | 01 January 1950 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Appeals to Quarter Sessions after
Committal for Sentence
Now
that
the
provisions of
the
Criminal
Justice
Act
1948
have
been in force for some months, those whose
business is concerned
with
the
administration of justice
will generally agree
with
the
writer
at
page 251 of
the
previous volume of this
JOURNAL
that
"one
of
the
principal
virtues of
the
Act
has proved to be
the
assistance which
it
gives
to
the
speeding up of
justice"
and
that
"The
provisions of section 29 of
the
Act are proving particularly
valuable in this connection". Nevertheless there appears
to be one striking defect in
the
Act-a
defect which was
commented
upon
by
Humphreys
J.
in
the
Court of Criminal
Appeal
recently-in
that
the
legislature when drafting
the
provisions of sections 29
and
36
apparently
overlooked
the
fact
that
it
was possible for a person to give notice of
appeal against conviction
by
a
summary
court
after he
had
already been sentenced in respect of
that
conviction
by
the
Court of
Quarter
Sessions,
and
so failed to provide
asatisfactory method of dealing
with
such a case.
This
point
came to
the
notice of
the
Court of Criminal
Appeal in a case which was originally before
the
Walsall
Borough Justices on
the
28th
January
1949 when
James
Micklewright was charged
with
stealing 84 lbs. of coal of
the
value of 3s.,
the
property
of
the
Railway Executive
on
the
20th of
the
same month. On
the
application of
the
defendant
the
hearing was adjourned
until
the
9th
February
1949 when
the
accused assented to a
summary
trial
and
pleaded
not
guilty.
The
Justices, after hearing
the
evidence, convicted Micklewright
and
committed
him
to
the
next
Walsall
Quarter
Sessions in custody under
the
provisions of section 29 of
the
Criminal
Justice
Act 1948,
for sentence,
and
at
the
Quarter
Sessions held on
the
17th
February
1949 he was sentenced to 18 months' imprison-
ment
in
respect of this offence.
98
To continue reading
Request your trial