Special Reasons for Not Suspending Driving Licences
| Published date | 01 April 1951 |
| Date | 01 April 1951 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002201835101500206 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Special Reasons for
Not
Suspending
Driving Licences
OVER the last four years the High Court has given some
fifteen decisions on
the
nature of
the
"special
reasons" which may be sufficient justification to the court
for
not
suspending adriving licence on conviction under
section 11, 15, or 35 of
the
Road Traffic Act, 1930. A
review
and
analysis of these much-needed decisions may
now be useful. A previous article on this subject (1946,
vol. x, 305-316) was based on decisions of
the
Scots and
Irish courts, there being
at
that
time no rulings,
but
only
obiter dicta, of
the
English High Court. The Scots
and
Irish cases are still instructive
but
the>
present article is
confined to
the
English authorities.
In
what
has become
the
leading authority on
the
whole
matter
the
Lord Chief Justice said (TVhittall v. Kirby 1947
K.
B. 194)
the
case raised a questionof
the
utmostimportance
at
the
present day, for in some magisterial courts disqualifi-
cation is imposed almost as a
matter
of course, in others
various reasons are accepted as constituting special reasons,
such as
that
the
defendant earns his living
by
driving cars,
or is a first offender,
and
these are considered sufficient to
justify magistrates from taking a course which Parliament
has laid down is to be followed,
at
any
rate prima facie, in
the
event of a conviction.
It
is difficult to
say
whether
there is now more uniformity in magisterial courts
than
there was four years ago
though
certainly there ought to
be, in view of
the
guidance which
the
High Court has given
on
the
question, which is one
both
of law
and
of discretion.
THE
QUESTION OF
LAW
AND
DISCRETION
It
has been made abundantly clear
that
the
question
of
what
may
and
what
may not be a special reason is a
question of law.
The
High Court has not hesitated
to
send
a case back to
the
justices with adirection
that
they
should
194
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