Compensation in Magistrates Courts
| Published date | 01 April 1973 |
| Date | 01 April 1973 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002201837303700210 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Compensation in Magistrates
Courts
THE powers of a Magistrates'
Court
to
order
payment
of
compensation
are
much
extended by the
Criminal
Justice
Act
1972. Magistrates now have
the
power to make aCompensation
order
against aperson convicted before
them
of
any
offence for
payment
by
him
of
an
amount
not
exceeding
£400
for
any
personal
injury,
loss
or
damage
arising from
that
offence, provided it is not
a loss suffered by
the
dependants of a person because of his
death
or
the
injury
loss or
damage
is
due
to an accident
'due
to the
presence of a
motor
vehicle on a road'.
Three
matters
should be noted :
(1)
apart
from cases of common assault there is no
bar
to the
bringing of civil proceedings in respect of the same
injury
loss or
damage
(2)
the defendant
can
appeal against
the
making of Compen-
sation
order
or its
amount
but
the person in whose favour
it is
made
can
not
(3)
aCompensation
order
may
be
made
in favour of a person
who is
not
a
party
to
the
proceedings.
In
the
civil courts
awards
are
made
in respect of two types of
damages: 'Special damages' which are for
particular
items of
damage
where the
amount
of
damage
can
be ascertained for such
matters
as
damaged
clothing or loss of wages,
and
'general damages'
where
the
quantum
of loss is a
matter
for judicial assessment for
such
matters
as
pain
and
suffering
or
facial disfigurement.
Hitherto
Magisterial powers have been limited to 'special
damages'
where
the
amount
of loss was ascertainable
and
merely
a
matter
of evidence.
The
Criminal
Justice
Act
1972 has now
brought
'general
damage'
into
the Magisterial
orbit
and
Magi-
strates will
have
to be
aware
of relevant considerations.
One
of these is
the
doctrine of
'contributary
negligence', which
is
that
if a person
who
has suffered
injury
loss or
damage
has to an
extent
contributed
to it by his
own
negligence
that
the
compensa-
tion he should receive should be the
damage
suffered reduced by
the
proportion
attributable
to his
own
negligence.
According to
the
Press this is
what
happened
at
Manchester
City
Magistrates'
Court
when George Best,
the
international
foot-
baller, was convicted of an assault
which
resulted in a girl being
injured.
The
Court
assessed
the
general damages at
£75,
held
that
146
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