A TEST CASE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17077, 28 January 1916, Page 10

A TEST CASE.

[Pek Press .Association.] AUCKLAND, January %T. Tn the Police Court Mr Eraser, S.M., "live reserved judgment in a test ease regarding the liability of a man who yields to solicitation on the street by a woman of ill-faiiio. The action was taken under Section 53 of the Justices of the Peace Act, which makes any person who counsels, aids, abets or procures the commission of an offence punishable summarily and equally liable with' the chief offender. Mr Fraser said the English eases quoted by the police showed the section to be extraordinarily wide, but also showed that the section was a modern application of the principle of accessory before the act. In typical soliciting cases the offence was completed immediately the woman spoke and! before the man could reply, either •irournbly or otherwise, consequently the offence was completed before the man came into it, and the man could not be convicted as accessory. The charge was dismissed.