Great Southern and Western Railway Company, Appellants; Gooding, Respondent

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judge: K. B. Div.
• Judgment Date: 17 June 1908
• Court: King's Bench Division (Ireland)
• Date: 17 June 1908

Great Southern and Western Railway Co., Appellants; Gooding, Respondent (1).

K. B. Div.

CASES

DETERMINED BY

THE KING'S BENCH DIVISION

OF

THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE IN IRELAND,

AND ON APPEAL THEREFROM IN

THE COURT OF APPEAL,

AND BY

THE COURT FOR CROWN CASES RESERVED.

1908.

Criminal law — Justices — Summary jurisdiction — Larceny — Dismiss without prejudice — Subsequent prosecution for same offence — Criminal Justice Act, 1855 (18 & 19 Vict. c. 126), ss. 1, 12.

Held, that the dismiss, although expressed to be without prejudice, was a bar to a subsequent prosecution for the same offence.

Case Stated under 20 & 21 Vict. c. 43, from which the following facts are taken:—

On the 4th May, 1908, at Tralee Petty Sessions, the respondent was summoned by the Great Southern and Western Railway Co. under 18 & 19 Vict. c. 126, sect. 1, for that he on the 18th March, 1908, at Fenit, county Kerry, did unlawfully steal a quantity of coal the property of the complainants, value not exceeding 5s. The respondent having consented to be summarily tried before the magistrates then present, evidence was given for the prosecution, and their witnesses examined and cross-examined, and the prosecution closed. The solicitor for the respondent then pointed out that in the summons and charge in the order-book the stolen coal was described as the property of the Great Southern and Western Railway Co., whereas the witness for the prosecution swore that the stolen coal was the property of Messrs. Latchford & Sons, Ltd., but in a truck, the property of the complainants, at Fenit Railway Station; and he asked the magistrates therefore to dismiss the case. The magistrates present held that the charge as described in the summons and order-book “on the point of

ownership,” was not proved by the sworn evidence, and “dismissed the case without prejudice and without costs.”

On the 18th May, 1908, at Tralee Petty Sessions, the respondent was again summoned by the Great Southern and Western Railway Co. on exactly the same charge, viz., that he, on the 18th March, 1908, at Fenit, county Kerry, did unlawfully steal a quantity of coal, the property of the complainants, value not exceeding 5s. The respondent's solicitor produced a certificate of dismissal of the former charge under the hands and seals of the Justices who adjudicated on it. This certificate followed form B in the schedule to 18 & 19 Vict. c. 126, save that after the words “we did, having summarily adjudicated thereon, dismiss the said charge,” there were added the words “without prejudice and without costs.”

The...