Normand, Complainer
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Judgment Date | 20 February 1992 |
| Date | 20 February 1992 |
| Docket Number | No. 18. |
| Court | High Court of Justiciary |
JC
L. J.-C. Ross, Lords McCluskey, Kirkwood.
Procedure—Bankers' books—Order for inspection of bankers' books—Procurator fiscal seeking warrant before proceedings initiated—Whether procurator fiscal's common law power excluded by statutory provisions—Bankers' Books Evidence Act 1879 (42 & 43 Vict., cap. 11), secs. 6 and 7.1
The complainer petitioned the sheriff for a warrant to enter bank premises, inspect and copy entries in bankers' books relating to a particular account, and to secure and take possession of as evidence any vouchers, pay-in slips or other documents relative to the cashing of a cheque which it was believed had been fraudulently altered and uttered as genuine. No legal proceedings had, at that stage, been initiated. The sheriff refused to grant the warrant on the grounds that, as no legal proceedings had been initiated, he could not grant an order under sec. 7 of the Bankers' Books Evidence Act 1879 and that sec. 7 excluded the complainer's common law powers to pursue enquiries in relation to bank records. The complainer appealed to the High Court against this decision by bill of advocation.
Held that, having regard to the provisions of the 1879 Act, there was nothing in the Act which would abridge or restrict the common law powers of the sheriff where there were no legal proceedings yet in existence; and bill passed, proceedings advocated,decision recalled, and cause remitted to the sheriff with a direction to grant the warrant craved.
MacNeill, Complainer 1984 J.C. 1 followed.
Andrew Christie Normand, procurator fiscal, Glasgow, presented a bill of advocation to the High Court of Justiciary, in which he made the following averments: "1. On 28th May 1991 cheque number K170950 was made out for a fare refund of £1.20 to Mr A. B. Howie, Flat 9, Room 5, 150 Holland Street, Glasgow, by a clerk in the Travel Centre, Glasgow Central Railway Station, Glasgow. 2. On 21st October 1991 the cheque was deposited at the branch of the T.S.B. Bank plc, at 411–413 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, for credit of account number 269459 held by [S.W.] at the branch of the T.S.B. Bank plc, 1413 Dumbarton Road, Glasgow, having been endorsed in favour of said [S.W.] and having [been] fraudulently altered from a value of £1.20 to a value of £81.20. Said cheque was thus uttered as genuine. 3. In order to carry out further enquiries into the said uttering the procurator fiscal at Glasgow petitioned the sheriff for a warrant to...
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R v Manchester. ; Stipendiary Magistrate and Another, ex parte Granada Television Ltd
...are available to the judges to grant search warrants are those of the common law: Watson v. Muir, 1938 J.C. 181; Normand, Complainer, 1992 S.L.T. 478. 13 The second aspect is that the entire system for the investigation and prosecution of crime in Scotland is in the hands of the public pr......