Recent Judicial Decisions
| Date | 01 November 2001 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X0107400410 |
| Published date | 01 November 2001 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
ROB R. JERRARD
LegalCoffespondent
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Rob_Jerrard/
Policela.htm
RECENT JUDICIAL DECISIONS
No public element needed in private breach of peace
McQuade vChief Constable
of
Humberside Police Court of Appeal
(2001) The Times, 3 September
The facts
The claimant had been arrested to prevent a breach of the peace at his
home following a domestic quarrel. The judge found that there was no
public element in his arrest. The Court of Appeal directed that there be
a retrial on liability.
The law
Lord Justice Laws giving the judgment of the court said the proposition
that it was a necessary ingredient of breach of the peace at common law
on private premises that it should involve a disturbance to members of
the public off the premises was decisively contradicted in McConnell v
ChiefConstable
of
Greater Manchester Police [1990] 1 WLR 364.
The court noted that this was one of the rare occasions where the
headnote to a report was misleading. (His Lordship is referring to the
Weekly Law Reports at [1990] 1 WLR 364.)
It
seemed to his Lordship that Lord Justice Glidewell (at 371G) had
distinctly rejected the submission that there must be some disturbance;
what was recognised was that there would be some circumstances
where the presence of the public was relevant evidentially. His Lordship
also drew attention to the words of Lord Justice Purchas (at 373A).
In his Lordship's judgment, the judge had misunderstood McCon-
nell. That authority was binding and also accorded with the policy
behind the law relating to breach of the peace whose purpose was to
deal with emergencies.
His Lordship emphasised that special care had to be taken when
effecting an arrest and underlined what was said in Foulkes vChief
Constable
of
Merseyside Police [1998] 3 All ER 705, 713D. Lord
Justice Peter Gibson and Sir Martin Nourse agreed.
The decision
The proposition that it was a necessary ingredient of breach of the
peace at common law on private premises that there be some disturbance
to members of the public off the premises was decisively contradicted by
the decision in McConnell which was binding.
It
was unfortunate that
The Police Journal, Volume 74 (2001) 353
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