Review: Cases and Statutes on Criminal Procedure
| DOI | 10.1177/002201837303700314 |
| Published date | 01 July 1973 |
| Date | 01 July 1973 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
228 REVIEWS
and
social scientist
might
be abandoned. Now
that
awell-known
journalist is at
the
helm
at
the League, perhaps a
more
popular
jargon
could be substituted; for
the
contents of this
journal-dealing
with
a wide range of penal problems,
both
here
and
in
Holland
and
Scandinavia (countries reputedly 'in advance of' us)
-must
be of the
greatest interest to everyone concerned with the criminal law, if only
they could be induced to
read
them.
CASES
AND
STATUTES
ON
CRIMINAL
PROCEDURE
by A. K.
Mughal
(B. Com) of Lincoln's
Inn,
Barrister
London. Butterworths 1973. xxvii
and
363
pp
and
index
(7pp)
£3.60
net
in
U.K.
only
This
volume contains reports of a
number
of
modern
cases,
and
of
certain statutes, dealing with criminal procedure.
Mr.
Mughal
has not
at
the
head
of any case or
group
of cases
attempted
any
general state-
ment
of the law,
and
he was wise
not
to do so since the subject
matter
does
not
lend itself to this form of treatment.
The
result is
that
the
book is essentially to be treated by
the
law student as a companion
volume to the text-book he is already reading.
The
enquiring
and
assiduous law student, which all students should be, who wants to see
the
actual
wording of
the
enactment,
and
to see how the rules he learns
have been formulated in actual practise, will find this book a convenient
source of reference which should save him visits to a law library which
may not always be accessible.
Mr.
Mughal's
occasional notes
at
the
end
of a case
are
brief
and
to the point.
Though
the
author
says in his
preface
that
the book is mainly for students, the hope
that
it will also
be of some assistance to practitioners is more doubtful.
The
practitioner
wants the
particular
decision
that
best suits his
argument
and
some
Courts may shy at having cases cited to
them
otherwise
than
from one
of the series of recognized reports.
It
is
unfortunate
that
the
preface,
dated
November 1972, contains no reference to
the
fact
that
R. v. Saara-
manga, reported in this book
at
p. 19, was overruled by
the
House of
Lords in D.P.P. v. Merriman decided on
the
19th
July
1972
and
re-
ported
in
the
W.L.R. for
the
6th
October
1972
and
the
All E.R. for the
15th August 1972.
The
omission of the Criminal Justice Act, 1972 is
understandable especially as copies of this Act were, owing to industrial
trouble,
not
available for some time.
The
equivalent of 6 pages, con-
taining reports of two cases, is given
up
to
the
subject of
the
calling of
witnesses by the judge.
This
not
very common problem scarcely deserves
all this space. A useful case on the suspension of sentences which might
have been included is R. v.
Munday
[1971] 56 Cr. App. R. 220, which
shows
that,
though
a
Court
considering
the
activation of a suspended
sentence should
not
review its propriety, yet it may be necessary for
the
Court
to inform itself of
the
circumstances in which
the
suspended
sentence was passed so
that
aproper assessment
m~Y'
be
made
of the
overall position so as to determine
what
sentence is to be passed.
There
is a misprint
at
p.23 where
the
year 1882 should be 1822.
The
choice of statutes is excellent
and
within the scope referred to this
book will be of real use to the student.
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