Divisional Court Cases

Published date01 April 1947
DOI10.1177/002201834701100203
Date01 April 1947
Subject MatterArticle
Divisional Court Cases
SPECIAL
REASONS'
AND
DRIVING
UCENCE
DISQU
ALIFIC.A.TION
Whittall v.
Kirby
IN
the
above case
(1946',
2
Au
EoR. 552) a Divisional
Court consisting of Lord Goddard
LoCo].
and
Lewis
and
Oliver
J,].
have given a ruling as to
the
meaning to be
given
to
the
expression "special reasons" where these or
similar words occur in
the
Road Traffic Acts of 1930
and
1934 as affording to courts of summary jurisdiction power
to refrain from disqualifying adriver or endorsing his
licence.
It
will be remembered
that
these words
had
already been commented upon
by
the
present Lord Chief
]ustice so long ago as 1937 in
an
address
to
the
Essex
Magistrates
at
Chelmsford Assizes
and
have been
the
sub-
ject
of decisions of
the
King's Bench Division of Northern
Ireland
and
the
Court of ] usticiary in Scotland. Readers of
this
]OURNAL
will find those cases collected
and
summarised
in a recent article (1946 J.CoL. 305). The same point was
also
the
subject of dicta
by
the
Divisional Court in R. v.
Recorder of Leicester: ex parte Gabbitas (1946,
].c.L.
190)
where
the
Court
had
to consider whether on motion for
an
order of certiorari there was jurisdiction on appeal to
quarter
sessions to
vary
asentence
by
removing
the
dis-
qualification where
the
conviction was under section 35
of
the
Road Traffic Act, 1930 (permitting
the
use of
an
uninsured motor vehicle).
In
that
case,
it
will be remem-
bered
that
whilst
the
Court held
that
the
learned Recorder
had
jurisdiction to make
the
order, which was
the
only
point
which could be considered on
the
motion for order of
certiorari,
the
Lord Chief Justice reiterated
the
opinion
which he
had
expressed in 1937
that
the
power to refuse
to
disqualify for "special reasons" did
not
confer upon magis-
trates
an
unfettered discretion
but
was limited to facts
which
were'
special'
to
the
particular circumstances of
the
offence.
158
DIVISIONAL COURT CASES 159
The
present proceedings came to
the
Court
by
way
of
case
stated
by
the
Birmingham justices.
The
respondent
had
pleaded guilty to two
charges:
that
of driving a
motor vehicle, namely, a lorry, whilst under
the
influence
of drink to such an
extent
as to be incapable of having
proper control of
the
vehicle contrary
to
section 15 of
the
Road
Traffic Act, 1930;
and
that
of driving in a
manner
dangerous contrary to section 11 of
the
above Act. On
the
first charge
the
justices
had
imposed a fine of £20
and
ordered
the
respondent's driving licence to be endorsed,
and
they
had
dismissed
the
second charge under
the
Pro-
bation of Offenders Act, 1907.
The
case was
stated
in
respect only of
the
first charge.
In
their
statement
of
the
reasons why
they
had
refrained from imposing
any
disqualification
the
justices gave three grounds for
their
decision:
(1)
that
they
had
no knowledge of
any
previous
motoring convictions against
the
respondent; (2)
that
the
respondent required adriving licence in order to
obtain
his livelihood;
(3)
that
they
had
imposed asubstantial fine
in assessing which
they
had
taken
into
account
that
they
had
not
imposed
any
disqualification.
Before considering
the
judgment of
the
Court
it
may
be convenient for readers to be reminded of
the
precise
terms
of
both
section 11
and
section 15 of
the
Road
Traffic
Act, 1930, as
both
sections were considered
by
the
Court.
By
sub-section
(2)
of section 11
:-
'The
Court shall order particulars of
any
such
conviction to be endorsed on
any
licence held by
the
person convicted".
By
sub-section
(3)
of
the
same section
:-
"On
asecond or subsequent conviction
under
this
section
the
convicting Court shall exercise
the
power
conferred by this
Part
of this Act of ordering
the
offender shall be disqualified for holding or obtaining
a licence unless
the
Court, having regard
to
the
lapse
of time since
the
date
of
the
previous or
last
previous
conviction or for
any
other
special reason thinks
it
fit
to
order otherwise,
but
this provision shall
not
be
construed as affecting
the
right of
the
Court
to
exercise
the
power aforesaid onafirst conviction".
By
sub-section (2) of section 15
:-
'~A
person convicted of
an
offence
under
this

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