North of the Border
| Published date | 01 February 1967 |
| Date | 01 February 1967 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0032258X6704000208 |
NORTH
OF
THE
BORDER
Notes Edited by Mr. W. G. Ratcliffe,
Assistant Chief Constable of Glasgow
LICENSING
A case of some importance in connexion with the control of
licensed premises was recently considered in the High Court of
Justiciary.
In
the past, the principle of vicarious responsibility has
been applied when deciding cases relating to the prevention of
drunkenness and maintenance of order in public houses. This
has been departed from in the recent decision and it must create
doubts as to the state of the law at present when an absentee
license holder cannot be held responsible for the actions of his
servants and the servants themselves are
not
committing an offence.
A change in legislation is obviously called for though some con-
trol might be exercised by licensing courts refusing to grant mul-
tiple certificates to licence holders.
Heatly v, Noble
On October 21, 1966,a court of five Judges in the High Court of
Justiciary gave their decision in an appeal from the Burgh Court,
Edinburgh, by a local licensee, James Morrison Noble.
The
facts were very short
but
the decision may have far-reach-
ing results.
On September 24, 1965, about 11.20 p.m., police officers seeing
lights still on in a public house decided to investigate and were
admitted.
It
will be noted that, being a public house, the place
should have been closed at 10 p.m.
The
officers found five men,
three women and a youth of 18 years in the premises. One of the
men
and
the youth were obviously drunk. Mr. Noble, the licensee,
was
not
at the time on the premises, which were under the charge
of a manager, a Mr. James Welch.
On this state of affairs, the licensee was charged with knowingly
permitting drunkenness on his premises in contravention of the
Licensing (Scotland) Act, 1959, and the terms of his certificate.
He denied the charge.
At
the trial he admitted
that
he held 13
licences for various licensed premises in Edinburgh.
For
the
defence, Archibald Tulloch, asupervisor employed by the brewers
who owned the premises, said that the running of the public house
had been delegated to him. He saw the manager, on his appoint-
ment, explained his duties and the law to him and gave him a copy
of General Instructions for Managers issued by the brewers, in
which it was made clear that it was an offence to allow a drunk
February
1967 81
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