In the Scottish Courts
| Published date | 01 July 1964 |
| Date | 01 July 1964 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201836402800306 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
In the Scottish Courts
CONSECUTIVE
SENTENCES-SENTENCE
TO DATE
FROM
EXPIRY OF
SENTENCE PASSED ON SAME DAY
Kesson v. Heatly
THE
maximum
term
of
imprisonment
which
any
court
other
than
the
High
Court
can impose is fixed by law.
In
the
case of a
Burgh
Police
Court
it is 60 days for
common
law crimes,
but
various statutes provide for longer periods.
In
particular
the
Prevention of
Crime
Act 1871 empowers any
court
of
summary
jurisdiction to impose
the
surprisingly long
sentence of 12
months'
imprisonment
for contraventions of
section 7 of
the
Act,
which
deals
with
certain classes of
convicted criminals found in certain suspicious circum-
stances.
It
was
held
in Wishart v. Heatly (1953
J.e.
42)
that
where
Ais charged
with
several offences in
one
complaint
the
total
period
of
imprisonment
imposed
must
not
exceed
the
maximum
which
the
court
has power to impose on
the
individual charges, so
that
if Ais charged
with
two con-
traventions of section 7of
the
1871 Act he can be sentenced
to two
concurrent
sentences of 12
months
each, or to two
consecutive sentences of 6 months,
but
he cannot be sentenced
to two consecutive sentences of 12 months, or to any
other
combination of sentences
which
exceeds 12
months
in
the
aggregate.
On
the
other
hand
section 56 (4) of
the
Summary
Jurisdiction
Act
1954 provides
that
asentence
"may
be
framed so as to take effect on
the
expiry of any previous
sentence
which
at
the
date
of
such
conviction
the
accused is
undergoing".
If, therefore, A
who
has served 30 days of a
60 day sentence appears before
the
Burgh
Court
on a
common
law charge he can be sentenced to a
further
60 days to
date
from
the
expiry of his earlier sentence,
but
not
to 90 days
concurrently
with
his earlier sentence,
although
in each case
the
result would be to
add
60 days to his earlier sentence.
In
Kesson v. Heatly (1964
S.L.T.
157)
the
question was
whether
s. 56 (4) empowered
the
Burgh
Court
to pass con-
secutive sentences exceeding 12
months
in
the
aggregate
185
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