Hall v Macpherson
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Judgment Date | 19 June 1913 |
| Docket Number | No. 20. |
| Date | 19 June 1913 |
| Court | High Court of Justiciary |
Lord Justice-General, Lord Kinnear, Lord Mackenzie.
Jurisdiction—Statutory Offences—Living on earnings of prostitution—Jurisdiction of Burgh Police Court—Immoral Traffic (Scotland) Act, 1902 (2 Edw. VII. cap. 11), sec. 1 (1).
Held that a police magistrate sitting in a Burgh Police Court has jurisdiction to try an offence against the Immoral Traffic (Scotland) Act, 1902.
Sentence—Statutory Offence—Increase in penalty by amending Act—Conviction of offence in period extending from before till after date of amending Act—Imposition of increased penalty—Amendment of sentence—Immoral Traffic (Scotland) Act, 1902 (2 Edw. VII. cap. 11), sec. 1 (1)—Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1912 (2 and 3 Geo. V. cap. 20), sec. 7 (2)—Summary Jurisdiction (Scotland) Act, 1908 (8 Edw. VII. cap. 65), sec. 75.
The Immoral Traffic (Scotland) Act, 1902, sec. 1 provides that every male person summarily convicted of living upon the earnings of prostitution shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months. By sec. 7 (2) of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1912, which came into force on 13th December 1912, the period of imprisonment which may be awarded is increased to six months.
An accused was convicted of an offence against these Acts, which was libelled as having been committed between 1st October 1912 and 15th March 1913, and was sentenced to six months' imprisonment.
Held, in a suspension, that the sentence could not stand in respect that the offence might have been committed in whole or in part prior to 13th December 1912, the date at which the increased penalty came into force; and sentence reduced, under the provisions of the Summary Jurisdiction (Scotland) Act, 1908, sec. 75, to one of three months' imprisonment.
On 28th March 1913 Otto Hall was charged in the Police Court of Edinburgh on a complaint under the Summary Jurisdiction (Scotland) Act, 1908, at the instance of Charles Angus Macpherson, Public Prosecutor, with having ‘between 1st October 1912 and 15th March 1913, both days inclusive,’ lived wholly or in part on the earnings of the prostitution of a known prostitute, contrary to the Immoral Traffic Act, 1902, section 1, as amended by the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1912, section 7, ‘whereby you are liable to the penalty set forth in said section 7.’
The case was tried by one of the Judges of Police, who found the accused ‘guilty as libelled,’ and pronounced a sentence of six months' imprisonment.
The accused brought a bill of suspension, in which it was stated:—‘(4) On said complaint being called in Court on 27th March 1913 the complainer's solicitor objected to the relevancy of the complaint. The objection to the relevancy stated was that the acts constituting the offence were libelled as having been committed between 1st October 1912 and 15th March 1913, while section 7 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1912, one of the statutes libelled as having been contravened, did not become law until 13th December 1912. The Court having heard the respondent in reply repelled the said objection. The accused pled not guilty to the complaint, and evidence was led and various productions were lodged. The diet was adjourned till 28th March 1913. (5) On 28th March 1913 further evidence was led, and the complainer was found guilty of the charge as libelled and was sentenced by the Judge of Police to six months' imprisonment. (6) The statutes libelled do not per expressum confer jurisdiction upon the magistrates or Judges of Police Courts in Scotland, and do not authorise complaints thereunder to be tried by such magistrates or Judges in such Courts, and in consequence, the magistrates or Judges of Police of the city of Edinburgh had no jurisdiction to...
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