In the Scottish Courts
| Published date | 01 January 1947 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201834701100106 |
| Date | 01 January 1947 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
In the Scottish Courts
IRREGULARITIES
IN
PROCEDURE
Furnheim v. Watson (1946, S.L. T. 297)
IT is
not
every irregularity which (if
it
be
an
irregularity
in
the
stating
of a case for appeal) will
bar
an
appeal
or (if
it
be
an
irregularity
at
the
hearing of
the
court below)
will result in a conviction being
set
aside or a sentence
reduced.
In
the
case now reported,
the
procedure in
the
court
of
summary
jurisdiction from which appeal was
taken
was
lax
in
certain particulars. None
the
less,
the
High Court judges who
heard
the
appeal refused
to
inter-
fere
but
condemned
the
laxities in round terms.
Furnheim, aNorwegian seaman,
had
been charged
before
the
justices of Dumbartonshire with
an
excise
offence.
He
pled guilty
and
the
justices imposed a
penalty
of £80
and
ordered forfeiture of
the
(uncustomed) goods
involved.
The
date
of
the
conviction was
4th
August.
Five
days later, within
the
statutory
time, application was
made for a
stated
case. On lOth August,
the
court fixed
the
sum
to
be consigned
by
the
appellant
at
;£,50.
Con-
signation was
made
on 20th August. Although
the
delay
in making consignation might have entitled
the
justices
to
refuse
to
state
a case
(sec.
62 of
the
Summary Jurisdiction
(Scotland) Act, 1908, which fixes a five-day limit), no
objection to
the
stating of a case was
made
by
the
excise
orticer who
had
prosecuted and, in point of fact,
the
case
was drafted, adjusted, signed
and
issued
by
the
court
in
the
usual way.
The
failure to comply
with
statutory
requirement was founded on, for
the
first time,
at
the
calling
of
the
appeal in
the
High
Court, when counsel for
the
respondent moved
the
court to refuse to
hear
the
appeal.
The
attempt
to
bar
the
hearing of
the
appeal failed.
Although
it
was, in
the
court's opinion, clear
that
timeous
consignation was a condition precedent of
the
right
to
have
acase stated,
the
plain
fact
was
that,
whether or
not
he
6~
To continue reading
Request your trial