Regent Judicial Decisions
| Author | J. C. Wood |
| Date | 01 August 1968 |
| Published date | 01 August 1968 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X6804100810 |
| Subject Matter | Regent Judicial Decisions |
the problem of race relations, or even of legislation against dis-
crimination. I believe that legislation on this subject is essential, for
one of the functions of law is to educate the public by setting out the
standards which they should follow. I have suggested that amajority
of the people of this country would like to see a reduction of racial
discrimination; and passing a law against it is a way in which they
make this explicit.
(It
is a curious thing that some of those who would
be expected to agree with the propositions I have just
put
forward
are also those who were in favour of the legalization of homosexual
acts between consenting adults in private; yet the same argument
would apply. Society could well be said to have declared its wish that
homosexuality should decline by making it illegal.) My suggestion
that the majority of people would like to see a reduction in the
amount of racial discrimination in this country is not disproved by
the fact that most people display prejudice at one time or another.
After all, many people who are supporters of the idea of queues for
buses are not averse from jumping a place or two themselves if the
opportunity presents itself.
All current proposals may not be completely wise, but this problem
is not one of those that will go away if we do nothing about it.
PROFESSOR
J. C.
WOOD,
LL.M.
The University
of
Sheffield
Legal Correspondent
of
THE POLICE
JOURNAL
ABSOLUTE OFFENCES
Two important cases have been decided this month which concern
the problem of absolute offences. The first, R. v. Warner, is a House
of Lords decision and therefore of the greatest impor.tance. The
other, Sweet v. Parsley, is a Divisional Court decision but leave to
appeal has been granted. This case has caused a great deal of com-
ment in the daily press.
R. v. Warner
[1968]
2 All E.R. 356 House of Lords
Warner sold scent as a part-time occupation. He went to a cafe and
picked up two parcels which had been left for him. He said that he
believed that each box contained scent. He was stopped by a police
officer and the smaller of the boxes was found to contain 20,000
amphetamine sulphate tablets. Warner was charged with possessing
drugs contrary to s. 1 of the Drugs (Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1964,
which provides
"
...
it shall not be lawful for a person to have in his possession a substance for
the time being specified in the Schedule to this Act unless
...
"
August 1968 379
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