Taking and Driving Away Motor Vehicles, and Mens Rea
| Published date | 01 April 1963 |
| Date | 01 April 1963 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002201836302700211 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Taking
and Driving Away
Motor
Vehicles,
and Mens Rea
Two University students were charged in a magistrates'
court with being concerned together in taking and driving
awayamotor vehiclewithout the consent of the owner and other
lawful authority contrary to the Road Traffic Act, 196o,
section
217,
and a further charge of using
that
vehicle without
third-party insurance was preferred against one of them.
They
were both represented by counsel and pleaded guilty.
The
facts outlined by the prosecution were that a car
had been left by its owner in a street and taken by the defen-
dants, who had been stopped by the police not far away.
In
mitigation for them, their counsel stated that they had general
permission from a friend to borrow his car; the friend's car
was of a particular make, had a Yorkshire registration number,
and Conservative Party stickers on the windscreen, and was
often left in the street where the undergraduates found the
car which they took.
The
latter car was of the same make and
also had a Yorkshire registration number and Conservative
Party stickers on it.
In
other words, it was pleaded on their
behalfthat there had been a genuine mistake and, in taking the
car which they did take, they had been under the impression
that
they had the owner's consent or that that consent would
have been forthcoming,
if
sought.
Had there been a plea of not guilty and had the court
been satisfied that there was a genuine mistake, the question
would have arisen whether s.
217
creates an offence of absolute
liability so that, once it was shown that the defendants had
taken and driven away the car, they were guilty, whatever their
motives and beliefs.
The
most recent discussion of the question whether
mens
rea is an essential ingredient of an offence is to be found in
the advice of Lord Evershed on behalf of the Privy Counci,t in
lSI
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