Justices of the Peace criticised over actions

Press, 2 November 1984, Page 22

Justices of the Peace criticised over actions

PA Wellington Justices of the Peace who sought technical advice after hearing a traffic case acted in a completely unacceptable way, a High Court judge found in Wellington this week. In an oral judgment, Mr Justice Savage quashed a conviction and fine against Lionel Keith Thompson imposed in the District Court at Upper Hutt on June 28. He had been charged with following another vehicle so closely that he could not have stopped short of it if it had stopped suddenly. Thompson appealed his conviction and was awarded

$5O costs. The Ministry of Transport was the respondent. His Honour said the appeal was allowed because of the terms of the judgment given by the Justices of the Peace. The Justices of the Peace said that after considering the evidence put before them, they sought advice from an experienced person in the motor trade. His Honour said that they probably did this because of the evidence relating to the damage done to vehicles involved. “It is necessary, however, to make quite clear that it is completely unacceptable

for a judicial officer, after hearing a case, to seek advice from anyone else or to obtain any information from anyone else in relation to that case, before he gives his judgment,” said his Honour.

It was fundamental that judgment could only be given upon the material put before the Court at the trial, in the presence of the parties, he said.

“To take advice from anyone else, or to consult anybody else, is such an error that it invalidates the whole proceedings and the judgment in this case must, therefore, be set aside,” said his Honour.