“Suspected Persons”
| Published date | 01 July 1938 |
| Date | 01 July 1938 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X3801100312 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
"Suspected
Persons"
ACRITICAL SURVEY OF RECENT DECISIONS
THE
Vagrancy Act is rightly regarded by police officers as
providing a valuable instrument in
the
prevention of crime.
Suspected persons and reputed thieves, within the meaning of
the Act, are persons about to commit crimes, and their
apprehension is of
the
utmost importance to
the
community.
Recent decisions of the High Court have, however, led to a
certain amount of confusion, so
that
the present state of the
law is, to a certain extent, clouded by uncertainty.
In
order to
arrive at an understanding it is necessary to go into
the
changes
that the law dealing with the subject has undergone, and for
that
purpose the words of the section and three decisions of the
High Court must be closely examined.
Firstly, the relevant words of section 4 of
the
Vagrancy Act,
as amended by subsequent
Acts-"
Every suspected person or
reputed thief frequenting or loitering in any river, canal, or
navigable stream, dock, or basin, or any quay, wharf, or ware-
house near or adjoining thereto, or any street, highway or
avenue leading thereto, or any place of public resort, or any
avenue leading thereto, or any street or any highway, or any
place adjacent to a street or highway, with intent to commit a
felony"
shall be deemed to be a rogue and vagabond.
The
intention of the accused person may be proved by the circum-
stances of
the
case and his known character.
The
first decision of importance is
that
ofHartley v. Ellnor,
81 J.P.
201.
The
facts were
that
the
accused Ellnor was seen
behaving suspiciously at a
tram
stop.
He
was seen to
push
among people boarding atram and to tap their pockets; he
did not board the tram.
The
police officer
then
kept him
under
observation, and during aperiod of forty minutes Ellnor was
seen to behave similarly on six further occasions in two differ-
ent
streets. He was
then
arrested as a suspected person fre-
quenting certain streets with intent to commit a felony.
He
374
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