Food and Drugs Act, 1955
| Date | 01 July 1960 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201836002400311 |
| Published date | 01 July 1960 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Food and Drugs Act, 1
955
TWO
POINTS
OF
PROCEDURE
Two interesting points of procedure in relation to section
113 of
the
Food
and
Drugs Act 1955 were considered by
the
Middlesbrough Magistrates'
Court
on
the
16th November
1959 when aretailer was charged with selling to the prejudice
of the purchaser a loaf of bread which was
not
of
the
quality of
the
article demanded in
that
it was affected with mould,
contrary to s. 2of
the
Act.
The
two questions raised were (I)
From
what date
must
the
three days' clear notice
under
s. 113(1) be calculated
and
(2) Has
the
third
party aright to cross-examine
the
prosecution
witnesses?
Section 113(1) of the Act provides
"A
person against
whom proceedings are brought
under
this Act shall,
upon
information duly laid by
him
and on giving to the prosecution
not
less
than
three clear days' notice of his intention, be
entitled to have any person to whose act or default he alleges
the contravention of the provisions in question was
due
brought before the
Court
in
the
proceedings; and if, after
the
contravention has been proved,
the
original defendant proves
that
the contravention was
due
to
the
act or default of
that
other
person,
that
other person may be convicted of the offence, and,
if
the original defendant further proves
that
he has used all
due
diligence to secure
that
the
provisions in question were
complied with, he shall be acquitted of
the
offence".
In
the
present case
the
original defendant,
the
retailer,
alleged
that
the
contravention
under
s. 2was
due
to
the
act
of
the
baker
and
that
he himself had used all due diligence
to ensure
that
there was no breach of
the
provisions of
that
section.
On
the
question whether sufficient notice had been given
to
the
prosecution the facts were as follows:
The
information
was laid by the Chief Public Health Inspector against
the
defendant on
the
rjth
October 1959 and
the
summons was
231
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