Attempting to Take and Drive Away a Motor Vehicle
| DOI | 10.1177/002201834901300309 |
| Published date | 01 July 1949 |
| Date | 01 July 1949 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Attempting to take and drive away
aMotor Vehicle.
EFFECT
OF
THE
CRIMINAL
JUSTICE
ACT 1948
ON
PROCEDURE
FROM time to time controversial opinions have been
expressed upon
the
question as to whether
the
offence
of attempting to
take
and drive away amotor vehicle
without
the
owner's consent contrary to section 28 of
the
Road Traffic Act 1930 is triable summarily
with
the
con-
sent of
the
accused.
The
purpose of this article is
not
to
criticise or comment upon
any
of those opinions,
but
to
show
that
the
effect of section 28 of
the
Criminal Justice
Act 1948 which came into force on
the
27th December 1948
is to
put
the
matter
beyond doubt
and
that
such an offence
can
now,
at
any
rate, be dealt
with
summarily
with
the
accused's consent.
Section 28(1) of
the
Road Traffic Act 1930 provides
that
every person who takes
and
drives away
any
motor
vehicle without having either
the
consent of
the
owner
thereof or other lawful
authority
shall be liable
(a)
on
summary conviction, to imprisonment for a
term
not
exceeding three months, or to a fine
not
exceeding £50,
(b)
on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a
term
not
exceeding twelve months, or to a fine
not
exceed-
ing £100, or to
both
such imprisonment
and
fine. There
is no provision in this section for dealing summarily with
the
offence of
attempting
to
take
and
drive away amotor
vehicle,
and
the
question of whether
the
attempted
offence
is triable summarily or
not
depends entirely upon whether
it
comes within
the
Second Schedule to
the
Criminal
Justice
Act 1925, which contains
the
indictable offences
by
adults
which
may
be dealt with summarily. This Schedule in-
cludes (in paragraph 17)
the
offences of "aiding, abetting,
counselling or procuring
the
commission of
any
indictable
offence which
may
be dealt
with
summarily, or attempting
308
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