In the Scottish Courts
| Published date | 01 July 1953 |
| Date | 01 July 1953 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002201835301700305 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
In the Scottish Courts
"PATENT
AND
FUNDAMENTAL
NULLITY"
Muir
v. Gillespie (69 Sc. Law Review. 60)
SECO
ND
20
(3)
of
the
Finance Act, 1946, directs
that
every person "concerned
with
the
purchase or importa-
tion
of goods or
with
the
application to goods of
any
process
of
manufacture
or
with
dealings with imported
goods"
must
furnish
to
the
Commissioners of Customs
and
Excise within
such time
and
in such form as
they
may
require "informa-
tion relating
to
the
goods or to
the
purchase or importation
thereof or
to
the
application of
any
process of manufacture
thereto
or
to
dealings therewith as
they
may
specify"
and
must,
upon
demand made
by
an
officer or other person
authorised in
that
behalf
by
the
Commissioners, produce
any
books or accounts or other documents relating
thereto
for inspection
by
the
officer or person
at
such time
and
place as
that
officer or person
may
require.
The
broad
effect of
the
case now reported is
that
where a person is
charged in one or other of
the
various capacities specified
in
the
section quoted
(e.g.,
as a person who is concerned
with
the
application
to
goods of a process of manufacture)
he
can
be required to furnish information relating
to
such
goods only.
For
that
reason, acomplaint charging a
person with failing
to
produce books
and
accounts relating
to other goods was held to be so fundamentally irrelevant
that
he was acquitted of
the
offence.
The
proceedings in
the
case were
instituted
by
an
officer of Customs
and
Excise in Glasgow Sheriff Court
and
were directed against George Gillespie, trading as Rio
Bagcraft.
The
complaint charged Gillespie
that
"being a
person concerned
with
the
application to goods of a process
of manufacture, viz.,
the
manufacture of bags,
and
having
on (a
date
specified) been required
by
the
Commissioners
of Customs
and
Excise
to
produce (to a nominated officer
at
a
stated
time
and
place) (a) all books
and
accounts
and
other documents relating to all goods purchased
by
268
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