Enforcement of Costs under the Criminal Justice Act, 1948
| Published date | 01 July 1949 |
| Date | 01 July 1949 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201834901300308 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Enforcement of Costs under
The
Criminal Justice Act. 1948
ATpage 97 of
the
present volume
the
view is
put
forward
that
costs ordered to be
paid
by
adefendant who,
under
the
provisions of
the
Criminal Justice Act, 1948, is
discharged absolutely or conditionally or in respect of
whom aprobation order is made, are
not
sums
"adjudged
to
be
paid
by
aconviction" within
the
meaning of
the
Money
Payments
(Justices Procedure) Act, 1935,
and
therefore
the
limitations imposed
by
that
Act do
not
apply.
This conclusion however is
by
no means as free from
doubt
as
it
appears from
that
article,
and
afurther examination
of this
point
may
not
be without interest.
For
this purpose
it
will probably be convenient to deal firstly
with
costs
awarded
under
the
Summary
Jurisdiction Act, 1848.
The
Money
Payments
(Justices Procedure) Act, 1935,
lays down
the
procedure
to
be followed where a court of
summary
jurisdiction "adjudges aperson to
pay
a
sum
by
aconviction"
and
allows
him
time to
pay
that
fine;
the
quoted expression is,
by
s. 15 (e), to have
the
same meaning
as in
the
Summary
Jurisdiction Act, 1879. Section 49 of
that
Act
contains
the
table
of special definitions for
the
purpose of
the
Act,
but
in our
opinion-and
this is where we
would differ from
the
point
of view apparently held
by
the
writer of
the
article-that
section does
not
purport
to
lay
down acomplete definition of
what
is a
"sum
adjudged
to
be
paid
by
aconviction"
but
simply provided
that that
expression is to include
any
costs adjudged to be
paid
by
the
conviction of which
the
amount
is ascertained
by
the
conviction.
It
is a general rule of construction
that
in
the
absence of
any
special definition in an Act,
the
words
occurring there are to be given their normal meaning.
Accordingly since s. 18 of
the
Summary
Jurisdiction
Act, 1848, empowers
the
court"
In
all cases of
summary
conviction . . . . to
award
and
order in
and
by
such
conviction . . . .
that
the
defendant shall
pay
to
the
tr
305
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