The Assizes
| Date | 01 January 1948 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201834801200102 |
| Published date | 01 January 1948 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
The Assizes
BAIL
pENDING
TRIAL
FOLLOWI NG on his pronouncement in
the
Court of
Criminal Appeal in R. v. Phillips
(Ill
J.P.
333) which
was
noted
in
the
last
number
of
this
JOURNAL,
Lord
Goddard
C.J.,
made
further reference
to
the
principles
to
be observed
in
the
granting or withholding of
bail
pending
trial
at
the
Cambridge Assizes on May 19th, 1947 (see 32 Cr. App. R.
80).
He
criticized
the
Cambridge magistrates for granting
bail
to
two
men
pending
their
trial, after
the
Police
had
objected.
The
Lord Chief Justice
said:
"I
do hope
that
the
magistrates of this borough
and
generally will
pay
some
attention
to
what
the
Court of Criminal Appeal recently
said in regard
to
bail in these cases. Time
and
again
the
courts find
that
men
with
records are charged
with
offences
which are felonies
and
for some reason
they
are
admitted
to
bail although
they
do
not
show
the
smallest defence
and
very often, as in these cases,
admit
the
offence.
What
is
the
consequence?
The
consequence is exactly
the
same
as in
this
case. While
they
are on bail
they
commit
other
offences.
It
is perfectly preposterous
that
any
men
with
records like these should be let
out
on bail when
there
is
not
the
slightest
doubt
that
they
have
committed
the
offence, which here
they
admit.
"The
magistrates
can
trust
the
courts, whether assizes
or
quarter
sessions,
to
take
into
consideration, in dealing
with cases,
the
length
of time prisoners
have
been detained
in prison.
In
this case
the
only result of
the
magistrates
having
granted
bail is
that
now these
men
are up on a
further charge of breaking
and
entering, so
that
the
sentence
they
will receive is very largely due
to
the
fact
that
they
were
let
out
on bail".
18
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