R v The Inhabitants of Preston
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 01 January 1838 |
| Date | 01 January 1838 |
| Court | Crown Court |
English Reports Citation: 168 E.R. 1126
Crown Cases
1126 BEGIN A V. THE INHABITANTS OF PRESTON 2 LEWIS 194 HIGHWAY. York Sum. Assizes, 1838. eegina . the inhabitants of preston. (If a turnpike road be out of repair, the inhabitants are liable to be indicted, although tie tolls are appropriated by Act of Parliament to the repairs thereof. In such case they must seek relief from the trustees, under the 3 Geo. IV. c. 126 ) The defendants were charged with the non-repair of the Hull and Hedon turnpike-road, in the East Riding of the county of York Tie road was made under the authority of an Act of Parliament, passed in the 10 & 11 Geo. IV., and was completed in the year 1833. Under the provisions of the Act, the trustees were required, out of the tolls, first, to keep down the interest of money borrowed for the purpose of making the road ; and secondly, to apply a portion in liquidation of the debt itself [194] There was no express provision in the Act that the road was to be considered, when completed, a public road. Wightman, for the defendants, contended, that the road had not answered the purpose which was contemplated when the Act was obtained. That it was not, in point of fact, a public benefit, and could not, therefore, be considered a public road. AHerson, B. (looking at the Act), " The wisdom of the legislature has pronounced that such road, when completed, will be ' a public benefit.' The question then is, has it been completed 1 The evidence shews that it has been completed, and that a mail-coach has travelled upon it for a twelvemonth If, then, the road is in a bad state of repair, the inhabitants are liable on this indictment. It was decided in R. v Netherthong (2 B. & A. 179) and R. v. Mellor,^ that the inhabitants are liable to repair a turnpike-road, whenever it is com-[195]-pleted, according to the terms of the Act of Parliament " [196] Wightman.-" But in this case, the trustees by whom the road was made are the prosecutors, and their object is to throw the burden on the parish, in order that they may apply the tolls to the repayment of their own debt." AHerson, B.-" I am always unwilling to look at a case as it may regard private individuals, when the question at issue is concerning the public. The genius of the English law is, that private individuals shall prosecute for the public good, and the "f R. v Mellor, 1 B & A. 32 In the former case it was said, that where a highway has been converted...
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