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On Being Required to be a Policeman, Untrained and Unpaid

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2001

P.R. Glazebrook
P.R. Glazebrook*
Affiliation:
Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge; University of Cambridge
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Abstract

This article discusses the case of Brock and Wyner (2001) (the “Wintercomfort Case”) and considers its implications for private citizens who traditionally have not incurred criminal liability merely for failing to prevent a third party from committing an offence unless they have some specific legal responsibility for the victim or for the business or motor-vehicle in connection with which it is committed. The wide and vague interpretation placed on section 8 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, which applies to everyone who occupies or manages premises, is contrasted sharply with the House of Lords’ views of its predecessor (section 8 of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1965) in Sweet v. Parsley. The author draws attention to the clearer and more circumscribed section 19 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and argues for an equally specific provision to be substituted for a Section 8 of the 1971 Act.

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Articles
Information
The Cambridge Law Journal , Volume 60 , Issue 3 , 30 November 2001 , pp. 537 - 552
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge Law Journal and Contributors 2001

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References

1 Clarkson [1971] 1 W.L.R. 402.

2 Allan [1965] 1 Q.B. 130.

3 It was defended with great gusto by Glanville Williams: “Letting Offences Happen” [1990] Crim. L.R. 780.

4 Inns Act 1604; Alehouses Act 1625.

5 Licensing Act 1964, s. 161(2).

6 Ibid., s. 168(1).

7 S. 169(1).

8 S. 172(1).

9 S. 175(1).

10 S. 176.

11 S. 177.

12 S. 178(a).

13 S. 44.

14 Sexual Offences Act 1956, s. 35.

15 Ibid., s. 36. The offence of permitting premises to be used as a “sex establishment” without the requisite licence (Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982, Sch. 3, para. 20(1)(a)) may be justified on similar grounds.

16 E.g., Food Safety Act 1990, s. 36.

17 Children and Young Persons Act 1933, s. 1(1); Russell and Russell (1987) 85 C.A.R. 388.

18 Horses (Protective Headgear for Young Riders) Act 1990, s. 1(2)(b).

19 Protection of Animals Act 1911, s. 1(1)(a).

20 Abandonment of Animals Act 1960, s. 1.

21 Sexual Offences Act 1956, ss. 25-27; Mental Health Act 1983, s. 127; Fur Farming (Prohibition) Act 2000, s. 1(2).

22 Road Traffic Act 1988, s. 40A.

23 Ibid., s. 41A.

24 S. 41B.

25 S. 87(2).

26 S. 143(l)(h).

27 E.g., Town Police Clauses Act 1847, s. 28.

28 E.g., Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol &c) Act 1985, s. 1(2).

29 Glasbrook Bros. Ltd. v. Glamorgan C.C. [1925] A.C. 270; R. v. Metropolitan Police Commissioner, ex p. Blackburn [1968] 2 Q.B. 118.

30 Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001, s. 38.

31 [2001] 2 C.A.R. 31, on which see also Padfield, [2001] N.L.J. 507, and J.C.S. at [2001] Crim. L.R. 320.

32 Further details of the background to the prosecution and trial are to be found in Padfield, N., “Justice for those who help the homeless?” (2000) 150 N.L.J. 26.

33 Added by the 2001 Act (n. 30 above).

34 [1970] A.C. 132.

35 Section 7 allowed regulations to be made by statutory instrument “for controlling the manufacture, sale, possession and distribution of [other] drugs” and section 5 empowered constables to enter “the premises of any person carrying on the business of a producer, manufacturer, seller or distributor of any drugs to which this Act applies.”

36 [1970] A.C. 132 at 159.

37 [2001] 2 C.A.R. 31, at para. 5.

38 Para. 25.

39 Even Rose L.J. was moved to mention (para. 10) that one of the customers of the drug dealers had died from overdosing, as if that death was somehow, or in some way, to be laid at the doors of the project workers.

40 Ibid. Emphasis added.

41 Para. 30.

42 Other provisions of this sort are discussed in Hoffman, S., “Statutes Establishing a Duty to Report Crimes or to Render Assistance to Strangers” (1984) 72 Kentucky L.J. 827Google Scholar.

43 Para. 2.

44 [1985] A.C. 975.

45 Souter (1971) 55 C.A.R. 403 (the smoking of the particular cigarette whose end was found in an ashtray in the defendant's sitting room); Thomas and Thomson (1976) 63 C.A.R. 65 (the smoking by a friend of the clay pipe later discovered to contain cannabis which the police had likewise found in the defendant's sitting room).

46 Para. 12.

47 Cf. para. 30: “The appellants would not have known of every such supply.”

48 Para. 1.

49 Above, pp. 542-543.

50 Cf. para. 3, “such activity”; para. 2A “the activity” and references in, e.g., paras. 4 and 27, to “the problem” of drug dealing on the premises.

51 See, e.g., paras. 28 and 30.

52 See, too, Licensing Act 1964, s. 175.

53 Brown (1841) Car. & M. 314; Sherlock (1866) L.R. 1 C.C.R. 20.

54 Above, p. 542 at n.33.

55 The person who comes to suspect that something within his control is a controlled drug can similarly escape liability for possessing it by a single, simple act: that of getting rid of it. Further instances might be given, almost without end.

56 The author is very grateful to Mrs. N. Padfield, Mr. W. Clegg Q.C. and Dr. G.A. Reid for their comments on an earlier draft of this article.