The Road Traffic Act, 1956: Some Points
| Published date | 01 April 1957 |
| Date | 01 April 1957 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002201835702100209 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
The
Road Traffic Act, 1956:
Some Points
EXPE RIENCE of this Act, much of which came into
operation on
rst
November, 1956, is revealing points of
practice perhaps not so evident on a mere reading of
the
Act.
Some are dealt with below.
I.
Applications
of
new penalties.
It
is clear, on the principle enunciated in D.P.P. v. Lamb
(1941) 2 K.B. 98,
that
whether
the
offence was committed
before or after
rst
November, s. 26 applies the new penalties
to all convictions recorded after
that
date.
2.
In
charge
under the influence
of
drink.
So far as the offence of being in charge
under
the influence
of drink is concerned, s. IS of the Road Traffic Act, 1930, has
been repealed and replaced by s. 9 of the Act of 1956.
It
follows
that
s. 38(2) of
the
Interpretation Act, 1889, applies
and
where an alleged offence occurs before
rst
November,
but
is
not tried until after
that
date,
the
charge
and
penalty will be
as provided by s. IS of
the
1930 Act,
and
not
as provided by
the new Act.
3. Application for removal
of
disqualification.
Section 27 of
the
1956 Act provides
that
an application
for
the
removal of a disqualification may only be made at the
end of half
the
period of disqualification if it is for a period of
between one
and
six years. Apractical point arises where a
summons for removal is returnable after
the
rst
November
having been issued before
that
date, and
the
disqualification
at
the
date of hearing has
run
for I I months
out
of a total
period of two years.
The
summons, properly granted
under
the earlier law, could
not
have been granted
under
the
new law,
and
the
question is whether the "application" is made when
the summons is applied for, or when
the
case is heard.
In
a
bastardy case, Marshall v. Malcolm (1917 82
J.P.
77) Darling
J. was of the opinion
that
the
"application" was made at
the
time
the
summons was issued.
In
Healey v. Wright
(1912
171
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