WHAT RELIANCE?

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 139, 15 June 1938, Page 8

WHAT RELIANCE?

"RIGHT HAND" RULE. LEGAL ARGUMENT HEARD. APPEAL AGAINST DECISION. The extent to which motorists 6hould or should not rely on the rule known as the "right hand" rule was argued in the Supreme Court to-day before Mr. Justice C'allan, during the hearing of an appeal against a decision of Mr. C. R. Orr Walker, S.M., in the lower Court. That decision had been given in the case heard in the Magistrate's Court on March 1, where Roy Henry H. Page, a builder, of Auckland, proceeded against Arthur S. Vaughan, a land agent, also of Auckland, to recover damages of £67 18/ arising out of a collision between the motor car belonging to plaintiff and that belonging to defendant, which collision, the plaintiff alleged, was caused by the negligence of defendant. In a reserved judgment, the Magistrate said he was satisfied that the defendant was guilty of negligence, and he entered judgment for the full amount or the claim. In the hearing this morning, Mr. A. K. >orth for the appellant, Vaughan, and Mr. Finlay for the respondent, Page. Breach Admitted. The breach of the right-hand rule bv his client was admitted to be contributory negligence, said Mr. North, but not the only negligence. Mr. North submitted that a man should never embark on an intersection unless he looked not only to his right, but to hie left and ahead. The magistrate had excused the plaintiff for not looking to his left, and that omission should not have been excused. He quoted authority in support of his contentions. The magistrate, said Mr. Finlay, had judged that the actions of his client in relation to all the circumstances were those of the ordinary prudent man. Assuming that the right-hand rule meant nothing, added Mr. Finlay, on that hypothetical ground the magistrate had balanced up all circumstances and had said that the man was prudent. At the same time his client had the right to the benefit of the right-hand rule. His Honor said he would take time to make his decision.