Quarterly Summary
| Date | 01 January 1962 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201836202600110 |
| Published date | 01 January 1962 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Quarterly Summary
(Extended reports
of
some
of
the
cases
here summarized will be
given in our next issue.-Editor)
LOITERING
WITH
NO INTENT
Prosecution v. Lyons
MIDDLESEX appeals committee quashed aconviction
of loitering with intent to commit a felony although
they were satisfied that the appellant was a suspected person
and
that he was keeping observation on a bank or on persons
resorting thereto and, further, that it was a reasonable infer-
ence that a felony either by the appellant or some other persons
was under consideration. Such a felony could not have been
committed at the time and might not have been feasible at all.
The
appeals committee did not think that
the
words "intent
to commit a felony" extended to a preliminary reconnaissance
or contemplation of a felony which,
if
circumstances proved
feasible, might be committed at a future time.
It
is understood
that
an appeal by way of case stated to
the
High Court is likely.
(30th October, 1961.)
DRINK AND DANGEROUS DRIVING
R.
o, Sibley
On
a charge of dangerous driving the trial judge ruled at
the
outset of the case that no evidence should be given as to
drink taken by
the
defendant.
This
ruling was presumably
given on the ground that the prejudicial value of such evidence
outweighed its probative value. At the trial no one suggested
that drink was
the
cause of the accident, drink was not men-
tioned by
the
prosecution, and the summing-up of the case
was
put
on the basis of bad driving or a mechanical defect. A
witness was, however, asked certain questions by the judge and
the
answers indicated that the witness and
the
defendant had
visited two public houses, which they had only left at closing
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