House of Lords
| Author | David Cowley |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201838304700403 |
| Published date | 01 November 1983 |
| Date | 01 November 1983 |
| Published By | Sage Publications, Inc. |
| Subject Matter | Comments on Cases |
HOUSE
OF
LORDS
SINGLE AND CONTINUING OFFENCES
Under
the Town and Country Planning Act 1971, aplanning
authority may serve on an owner of land an enforcement
order
requiring steps to be taken to do something on it or to discontinue
the use to which the land is being put. In Chi/tern D.C. v. Hodgetts
[1983] 1 All
E.R.
1057, the relevant authority served a series of
notices on the owners of certain lands and buildings calling on them
to desist from using the premises for certain stated purposes within
three months from the date stated in the notice. Thereafter, the
authority laid informations and issued summonses against the
owners alleging that they had
"on
or since" a(later) stated date
permitted the impugned use, contrary to section 89(5) of the Act of
1971. On conviction, appeals were taken to the Crown Court,
where (for the first time) it was submitted that the informations
were bad for duplicity, in that the subsection created a single
offence, which was a continuing offence which occurred and
repeated itself each day during the period of default, whereas the
informations, by alleging such default
"on
or since" the stated date,
contained more than one offence. The Crown Court, and later the
Divisional Court, held that they were constrained to accept this
argument by the binding authority of the decision of the Divisional
Court in Parry v.Forest
of
Dean D.C. (1976) 34 P. &c.s. 209. The
Divisional Court, however, certified aquestion of general public
importance in the terms: whether an information which alleges
initial failure to comply with the provisions of an enforcement
order
"on
or since a certain
date"
is bad for duplicity.
In Parry's case (supra), the information complained that the
defendant had used the land in contravention of a notice "since" a
stated date.
It
was argued that section 89(5) creates a"continuing"
offence, which Lord Widgery C.l. described as one which
"repeats
itself every day. In
other
words a new offence is created every day."
Thus, the information was held to be bad, not only because it went
back beyond the (then existing) statutory time limit, but also
254
Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI
Get Started for FreeStart Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting