Courts of Summary Jurisdiction
| Date | 01 July 1951 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201835101500301 |
| Published date | 01 July 1951 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
The
Journal of Criminal Law
VOL.
XV.
No.3.
]ux.Y-SEPT., 1961
Courts of Summary Jurisdiction
A
STREET
MUSICIAN
IN
TROUBLE
IT was probably
the
injured pride of
the
artist
ratherthan
any
legal acumen which caused Mr. Rayinski to protest
vigourously
that
he was
not
guilty of
the
offence, for which
he
appeared before ametropolitan court, of "blowing a noisy
instrument
for
the
purpose of gathering alms" ;nevertheless
it
may
well be
that
astrong argument could have been
ad-
vanced
in
favour of his plea
that
he was
not
guilty of
the
offence charged: .
The
facts of
the
case were
not
disputed. Mr. Rayinski
was standing on
the
kerb blowing loudly on his saxophone
in a crowded thoroughfare in central London,
and
had
a cap
at
his feet. Members of
the
public were seen to place
money
in
his cap,
and
at
least one person was heard,
by
the
police officers, to compliment
the
defendant on his
beautiful playing.
In
view of
the
terms
of
the
charge
it
is
worth recording
that
the
defendant was well dressed,
and
there were none of
the
notices which street musicians so
often employ
to
wake
the
charitable instinct of
the
public.
The
police officers were apparently unmoved
by
the
beauty
of his playing, and, as he declined
to
move on when
requested
by
the
police officer, he was arrested, charged
and
subsequently convicted under s.54
(14)
of
the
Metropolitan
Police Act, 1839. This provides
that
"Every
person,
except
the
guards
and
postmen belonging to
Her
Majesty's
Post
Office
inthe
performance of their duty, who shall blow
any
horn
or use
any
other noisy instrument, for
the
purpose
of calling persons together, or of announcing
any
show qr
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