Submission of No Case to Answer in Magistrates' Courts
| Published date | 01 October 1962 |
| Date | 01 October 1962 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201836202600411 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Submission of
No
Case to Answer
in Magistrates' Courts
IN an article in vol. 26 Journal
of
Criminal Law (1962) at
page
230
Professor
J.
A. Coutts suggests
that
when a
submission of no case to answer is made in a summary trial
before magistrates
the
court should consider whether
the
prosecution has established its case beyond reasonable doubt.
Asimilar view was expressed in an article by
J.
c. Wood at
77 L.Q.R. 491.
On
the
face of it
the
proposition seems
reasonable enough, and it is only when one appreciates (as
Professor Coutts emphasises)
that
it is directly contrary to
the
directions given to magistrates by the Divisional Court,
that
one is prompted to examine more closely
the
authority
upon
which it is founded.
Submissions of no case to answer are common in summary
trials, so
that
it is important
that
magistrates should apply
the
correct principle when considering them and
not
continue a
trial to
"hear
the
accused's explanation" or to
"hear
both
sides".
If
a defence submission of
"no
case" is entitled to
succeed,
then
the
accused has
the
undoubted right to have
the
case dismissed at
that
stage, and not be required to make a
defence (and possibly convict himself), and no amount of
directions or suggestions from
the
Divisional
Court
that
it is
better for lay magistrates to hear
the
whole case before arriving
at their conclusion should be allowed to interfere with
that
right.
In
fact, however, it is here submitted
that
the
Divisional
Court has never laid down any such proposition,
but
has
merely advised magistrates
that
asubmission of
"no
case" is
something quite different from a plea by
the
defence at
the
end
of
the
case
that
the
accused is entitled to an acquittal.
Such
an elementary proposition would not normally be expected to
require justification, but, from
the
nature of many submissions
3
11
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