COURT OF APPEAL

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2578, 28 September 1915, Page 9

COURT OF APPEAL

POINTS OF CRIMINAL LAW When the Court of Appeal mot yesterday tho Bench tvas occupied by seven Judges, namely, Their Honours the Chief Justice' (Sir. ltobert Stout), Mr. -Justice Denniston, Mr. Justice Edwards, Mr. JusJ. tice Cooper,' Mr;\ Justice Chapman, .Mr. Justice Sim, and Mr.- Justice Stringer'. Their Honours had met together at the request ; of •< the Court, which heard' a special' criminal case at tho last sessions, when the points iraisedVwere considered of; sufficient importance to 'be argued, before the., two. divisions., The case'. 1 in question, was that of: H.M. the King 'v. ■Peter Francis. Eogan—a speoial casfcetat-', cd by His Honour Mr. Justice Chapman under - the provisions of Section 4i2 of the Crimes Act, 1908. The Solicitor-Geli-eral (Mr. J. W. Salmond, K.CJ. with.lum Mr. V. -R.. Meredith, appeared- for the Crown,; while. Mr. J. B. Callan, of DunetUn, appeared for Rogan. ; Eogan was a. general attendant' at'' the" Boys' .lYaining Farm, at Stoke, his appointment'being under the .Civil Service Commissioners; At the June sittings of the Supreme' Court in Nelson, Eogan.was arraigned in one indictment upon, three charges', of indecent -assault upon boys. He was convicted on one count of. tho indictment, and received a sentence of ten years' imprisonment, .with hard labour." At tho trial; % counsel ; for. the prisoner moved for a separate trial with respect to every count, but' His Honour allowed ; the three' cases to be : .heard together:. Counsel also objected to certain evidence introduced by the Crown, and His Honour consequently 'referred' the' case 'to: the Court of Appeal . for'an answer to the question: Was tho prisoner rightly oonvicted? ' ' ■■■ ■ . ■ The case had been fully argued in July last,. but" the argument was .taken again yesterday before the .two divisions of the Court, and occupied the whole of the day other than the brief period of the morning during. which : fixtures .were being made. . * \ Decision, was reserved.".

: APPEAL ABANDONED. ' In the case of William M'Millan and another v. the 'of Stamps (6ase. reserved), . Mr. ;M; Myers announced that -the appeal had: been abandoned and that costs had "been, agreed upon.*: The Solicitor-General (Mr.. >J. W. Salmond, K.C.),'thereupon asked for judgment. The Court "entered judgment for the Commissioner of Stamps,, with coi>is .as agreed. The : case had been argued: at .a previous sitting.- .>■

FIXTURES MADE. Tixtliros were - made by'.the Court as follow:— ■ Tuesday, September 28.-rJoseph William Soiiter and -others v; Arthur langford Souter and others, case on appeal. Wednesday, • September 29.—Bowron Bros, and Co., Ltd;, v., Thomas Morland, case on appeal (before a Full Bench of tho Supreme Court). -Thursday, September 30.—John■ -Vigor Brown and others v. Diana E. Knowles and others, case removed. , . Monday, October 4.—John Wills Chapman v. Ramsay MacDougall, case on. appeal. ' ■; ' ' V;v' : Other cases on the list,for, which no fixature has' beep niade.are as follow:—Commissioner of Taxes Vi.A. P. Gorman and another, on appeal j G. Ni Pharazyn v. C. H. Izard and another, case removed; G. W. M'Caul v. Donald Fraser, motion for provisional leave to appeal; Public Trustee; v. Hutt Eiver Board, mo., tion for .provisional leave to appeal; E.; M. Brogan v. The, Public Trustee, motion for provisional leave to appeal; M. Manthel r. A. Boltonj .'questions of law. to bo argued .before Bull Bench of 'Supreme Court. vV' V: "

MAGISTRATE'S COURT , I ..■Mr. D. ,G. A. Cooper, S.M., presided at a brief sitting of 1 the Magistrate's Court . at"9 o'clock'yestorday morning.n,. . A youiig woman,,named Lucy Pullman, , was charged with, having forged the name of L. Davis to a money-order telegram at Christchurch on August 10 last. On the application of Chief-Detective Boddam, the acoused .was. remanded' to. appear at Christ* churoh to-morrow morning. On a charge of being- an idle and disorderly person, William Aubrey Bourns was' sentenced to one. month's imprisonment. ■ ■■ - Robert Burke, who had been found jn : possession of firearms' while 1 "drunt in Bonlcott'Street, was conviotcd and ordered/tO'come, up for s^ntencfe' when, called upon. He was directed to return to his : employment in. the country. In connection with maintenance matter, Charles Haslam Holland was remanded to appear at Auckland oil October 4. An old woman, named Jessie M'Ewan, pleaded' not guilty t<? a : charge of .escaping' from the Salvation Army Home. She was remanded until-this morning.' : 'Emma Crawford. .. against whom, there were several "previous convictions, was 'fined £3 for drunkenness, Mie alternative being one month's imprisonment.::', A similar , penalty was imposed in the oase of William Thomas Waters, also, charged with drunkenness.' 'Edward' Wilson and John Sullivan were fined . 20s. for drunkenness, the alternative in both oases being three days'/imprisonment. In three otheiv cases of drunkenness the penalty'was : 10s., or 48 hours' imprisonment, tho respective defendants being John Mars, William Whelan, . and Donald M'Pherson. v Several first offenders ■ were , also dealt with'. ; .