By the Hand of Another
| Published date | 01 January 1958 |
| Author | Nap |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X5803100111 |
| Date | 01 January 1958 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
60
THE
POLICE
JOURNAL
Other outbuildings include a Found Property store, workshops and
dog kennels. All the buildings are air-conditioned and centrally heated
and the drill yard is surrounded by a garage for 15 cars and a bicycle
shed. Coventry has done its Police well.
By
The Hand
of
Another
Bythe general principles of Criminal Law, if any matter is made a
criminal offence, it is an essential ingredient that there must be a
blameworthy condition of mind, commonly referred to by that expres-
sion mens rea and invariably expressed by such words as "negligently,"
"wilfully" and "maliciously," etc. Ordinarily, therefore, but subject to
what is said below, an employer cannot be liable criminally for the act
of his employee because the latter's blameworthy condition of mind
cannot be imputed to the employer. In some cases, however, the legis-
lature has thought it so important to prevent the act being committed
that the act is forbidden absolutely, and if the act is
done-whether
the offender has mens rea or not, or whether he intended to commit a
breach of the law or
not-the
perpetrator is liable to a penalty, for as
Lord Hewart, C.J., put it in Chajutin v. Whitehead (1938) I K.B. 506,
"If
a person does an act which is prohibited by a statute, that fact
imputes to him a sufficient degree of mens rea to bring about that the
offence is proved." Consequently, in such cases an employer is liable
criminally for the act of his employee if he has: (a) authorised
it,
(b) an
interest in it or derives some benefit from it, or (c) it is done within the
scope of the employee's authority.
If
the employer has but an indirect interest in the unlawful act he is
still liable. This is exemplified in the case of Hotel Regina (Torquay)
Ltd., (1940) 2 K.B. 69, when hotel servants sold beer without a licence
to hotel guests. The beer was taken from a cupboard which, according
to the employers, was provided by them as a place for the waiters to
store intoxicating liquor purchased elsewhere by and belonging to the
guests staying at the hotel. Unfortunately, however, it was found that
the cupboard contained 60 bottles of beer, stout and cider, in
crates-
apparently unallocated. The headwaiter and the boots shared the
entire profits of the illegal sales. The magistrates said that the appel-
lants had an indirect interest in the traffic, and Hawke J., in making
this precise point, called attention to the fact that such sales tended to
improve and increase the hotel business and make the hotel servants
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