Anomalies of the English lawChester, S. Beach (Samuel Beach)
History
Anomalies of the English law
Chester, S. Beach (Samuel Beach)
Law; Law -- Great Britain -- History
In _The Times_ for December 20, 1910, the same case is again
reported, this time in its aspect as a novelty. _The Times_, after
giving the heading, “COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEAL. House of Lords’ Reversal
of Criminal Appeal. (_Before the_ Lord Chief Justice _of_ England,
Mr. Justice Pickford, _and_ Mr. Justice Avory)”, states, “Mr. Graham
Campbell, on behalf of the prosecution, said that this Court a short
time ago quashed the conviction in this case, and on Thursday last
the House of Lords made an order reversing that order. The House of
Lords had no machinery for enforcing its order, and it was therefore
necessary to come back to this Court for an order to enforce it. The
Lord Chief Justice: If the order of the Court of Criminal Appeal is set
aside, you say that the conviction will stand? Mr. Graham Campbell:
Yes. The Lord Chief Justice: Have the two defendants had notice of
this application? Mr. Graham Campbell: Yes; the male defendant is
here, but the female defendant is not present.... Mr. Forrest Fulton
(Mr. E. Fulton with him) said he appeared for both defendants....
The Lord Chief Justice: The male defendant must now surrender....
The defendant having surrendered, Mr. Forrest Fulton submitted that
the intention of the Legislature in section 1, sub-section 6, of the
Criminal Appeal Act, 1907--the section which allowed an appeal to the
House of Lords--was that, so far as the individual defendants were
concerned, the order of the Court of Criminal Appeal, in quashing the
conviction, should be final. The decision of the House of Lords was
intended to be obtained for the guidance and direction of Courts in the
future. The object of going to the House of Lords was to get a ruling
on a question of exceptional public importance. The Court of Criminal
Appeal had exercised the function of the jury, and that Court, having
allowed the appeal from the conviction, the position was the same as if
the defendants had been acquitted by the jury.... Judgment: The Lord
Chief Justice, in giving the judgment of the Court, said that in their
opinion there was no doubt as to the power and duty of this Court. The
appeal from this Court to the House of Lords was successful, and the
order of the House of Lords was that the order of this Court should be
reversed, and the natural consequence was that the conviction, if he
might use the expression, was re-established. In these circumstances
the right procedure had been adopted--namely, to come to this Court,
which was a court of record, and apply to have effect given to the
order of the House of Lords, that was to say, to expunge from the
record of this Court the order which had been made setting aside the
verdict and entering a verdict of ‘Acquittal.’ It was said by Mr.
Fulton that this being an appeal by the prosecution, and this Court
having decided that the appeal should be allowed and a verdict of
‘Acquittal’ entered, the Court had no power to make a further order
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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