Forfeiture—By Order
| Date | 01 January 1957 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201835702100112 |
| Published date | 01 January 1957 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Forfeiture-By
Order
IN some proceedings before aMagistrates' Court,
the
prosecution is supported by the production of documents,
liquor, carcasses, firearms, knuckledusters, etc.
These
may
have come into
the
possession of
the
prosecutor or his officers
during his investigations and enquiries, or as the result of a
justice granting awarrant .sanctioning seizure
and
removal.
Justices readily arrive at a decision as to whether imprisonment
or a fine shall be
the
appropriate disposal of
the
charges,
but
they invariably require prompting as to their powers and
duties in regard to
the
forfeiture of
the
articles before them.
In
some instances,
the
prosecutor may regard it as
part
of his
duty to draw
the
attention of
the
bench to what is required in
this respect; invariably it rests with the Clerk to the Justices
to draw
the
attention of his bench to
the
matter.
The
main
pitfall arises in
that
whereas
the
majority of statutory provi-
sions are permissive, there are several which are mandatory.
They
are easily identifiable as those in which
the
justices
"may
order"
or those in which they "shall
order"
forfeiture.
In
many instances, the court is required to specify the manner
of destruction or disposal which shall follow
the
forfeiture.
The
proceeds of sale, if sale is invoked, must be applied
according to
the
relevant statute.
Astudy of these provisions discloses a noticeable lack of
responsibility for ensuring
that
the order of
the
court in this
respect is in fact carried out, in much
the
same way as
the
law is notoriously silent
upon
it being any duty of
the
Justices
to ensure
that
fines imposed by them are in fact paid! No
doubt
Justices have on many occasions ordered
that
objects
shall be disposed of in some particular manner and have
entrusted
the
task to a police officer. No
doubt
their order is
carried out. Whose responsibility is it to ascertain
that
it has
been?
If
the
Justices chose to entrust
the
task to
the
Clerk to
the
Justices, has he the necessary facilities, e.g. to
burn
a
carcass, to sell a stiletto, to
burn
1,000
obscene books or to sell
fifty full or partly-filled bottles of liquor? And whilst on this
84
To continue reading
Request your trial