Courts of Summary Jurisdiction
| Date | 01 July 1964 |
| Published date | 01 July 1964 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201836402800301 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
The
Journal
of
Criminal Law
VOL.
XXVIII.
NO.3
JULy-SEPTEMBER, 1964
CL-I
Courts
of
Summary Jurisdiction
ROAD TRAFFIC ACT 1962: FAILURE TO
COMPLY
WITH
SECTION 7 (4)
UNDE R section 7 (4) of the Road Traffic Act 1962, a
person who is prosecuted for any offence specified in
Part
I or
Part
II
of the First Schedule to that Act
and
who is
the holder of a driving licence shall either
(a) cause it to be delivered to the clerk of the court
not
later than the day before the date appointed for the
hearing, or
(b) post it, at such atime
that
in the ordinary course of
post it would be delivered
not
later
than
that
day, in a
letter duly addressed to the clerk and either registered or
sent by the recorded delivery service; or
(c) have it with him at the hearing
and if he is convicted of the offence and the court makes an
order for the particulars of the conviction to be endorsed on
the licence, the court shall require the licence to be produced
to it for endorsement.
At many Magistrates' Courts the majority of cases in
respect of the less serious of these "endorsable" offences are
heard in accordance with the special procedure as laid down by
section Iof the Magistrates' Courts Act 1957. Since the
provisions of the Road Traffic Act 1962 came into force on
zoth
May 1963 it has been the experience of most courts
that
in many of those cases to be dealt with in the absence of the
accused, the accused's driving licence has
not
in fact been
received in time for the hearing and that often when adefend-
ant
comes to the court personally to answer such asummons
he has failed to bring his licence with
him-despite
the fact
that
with the summons is served anotice setting
out
the
provisions of section 7 (4).
In
view of the
"totting-up"
provisions it is, of course,
essential that the offender's driving licence is before the
145
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