Credit by Fraud
| Date | 01 October 1955 |
| Published date | 01 October 1955 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201835501900411 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Credit
by
Fraud
AN ANOMALY
THAT anomalies should exist in any system of law is
inevitable, and the English legal system is no exception.
There
can be
but
few, however, in which the law to be applied
in respect of a particular offence differs according to the court
of trial, as appears to be the position in English law, when a
defendant is charged
under
section 13 of
the
Debtors Act, 1869.
That
section makes it an offence for anyone
"in
incurring
any debt or liability, to obtain credit under false pretences,
or by means of any other fraud". Prima facie, this would
appear to create two alternative offences,
the
obtaining of
credit by false
pretences-a
term which has a specific meaning .
in English criminal
law-and
the obtaining of credit by means
of fraud.
When such a charge is preferred in a magistrates' court,
the
proceedings are regulated by
the
Magistrates' Courts Act
and
Rules of 1952, Rule 14
(I)
of which provides
"Subject
to
any Act passed after
the
second day of October, 1848, a
magistrates' court shall not proceed to the trial of an informa-
tion
that
charges more
than
one offence."
The
view
put
forward above
that
the
section creates two
different offences according to the means used to obtain credit
is supported by
the
decision in
R.
v. Benson (1908 2
K.B.
270).
In
that
case,
the
indictment alleged an obtaining of
goods by false pretences--eontrary to
that
section of the
Larceny Act, 1861 replaced by section 32 of
the
Larceny Act,
1916-and
an obtaining of credit by false pretences.
The
learned chairman of Quarter Sessions held
that
there was no
evidence of false pretences, and application was made to
amend
the
obtaining of credit count to read
"by
means of
fraud"
. On appeal to
the
Court of Crown Cases Reserved,
it was held
that
there was no power to make
the
amendment,
Lord
Alverstone, C.]., stating,
"The
principle involved is
very important because, if
the
court by means of
the
amend-
ment allowed
the
prisoner to be charged with an offence
365
To continue reading
Request your trial