Divisional Courts
| Published date | 01 April 1976 |
| Date | 01 April 1976 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002201837604000205 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Divisional Courts
Comments
on
Cases
AN
ORDER
TO
BREAK
THE
LAW
Johnson
v.
Phillips
In
this case (19753
AER
p. 682) the question for the
Court's
consideration was whether a police officer was acting lawfully in the
.execution of his
duty
when he gave a direction to a motorist to reverse
the wrong way down aone-way street.
The
question arose in this way.
On
the 14th November 1974
about
10.30p.m. there was an incident at the Windsor Public House,
Cannon
Street, Birmingham. As a result an ambulance was called,
and
two
police officers, P.C. 's Phillips
and
Hook went to the scene in the course
oftheir duties.
Cannon
Street, Birmingham is a narrow one-way street,
and
on the II th November, there was less room
than
usual becausecars
were parked on both sides of the street.
The
appellant who was driving his mini along
Cannon
Street
shortly after 10.30 p.m. was forced to stop by the presence
of
the
ambulance
in which, at the relevant moment, two injured people were
being
attended
to.
He
was then asked to reverse into astreet called Fore
Street by P.C. Phillips.
The
reason given was
that
other
ambulances
were expected
and
the appellant was obstructing the removal ofinjured
personsfrom the Public House.
If
the appellant
had
complied with the
officer's direction he would have
had
to reverse the wrong way along
Cannon
Street
and
into the flow
of
traffic in Fore Street.
The
appellant refused to move back, whereupon, he said, the
officer asked to see his documents.
(The
officer did not recall this at the
trial.)
The
appellant therefore moved his
car
over to the side of
Cannon
Street.
He
then
started
to get
out
of his car. P.C. Hook at this point
joined
P.C. Phillips
and
the appellantwas again asked to move his car.
The
appellant
then became annoyed
and
said to P.C. Phillips
'I'll
do
nothing for a
stupid
copper.
Have
you been in the
job
for two weeks?'
Whereupon
he was arrested for obstructinga police officer in the course
of his duties,
and
taken to the police station.
The
whole transaction took
about
a
minute
and
no further
ambulance
had
arrived by
the
time the
appellant
was taken to the police station.
At the trial it was argued by the appellant
that
P.C. Phillips was
not
acting in the course
of
his duty,
and
he
had
no authority to
order
the
appellant
to reverse the wrong way down
Cannon
Street which was
'unlawful
and
dangerous
and
accordingly the appellant's conduct did
not
amount
to wilful obstruction.'
83
To continue reading
Request your trial