Description
Crown appeal under section 174 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995:- The accused appeared on summary complaint at the District Court in Dundee in relation to a charge of speeding. The accused challenged the relevancy of the complaint. He contended that:- (i) the Perth-Dundee Trunk Road (A972) (Kingsway, Dundee) (50mph Speed Limit) Order 1989 under which the prosecution was brought was invalid since the A972 had been replaced by the A90; (ii) the 1989 Order contained so many errors and inaccuracies that it was now void for uncertainty; and (iii) (a) there was a lack of specification in the locus specified in the said complaint and (b) what specification of the locus did exist in the complaint was erroneous. The Justice of the Peace upheld the first and third of those contentions. Here the Crown appealed against the decision of the Justice of the Peace dismissing the summary complaint brought against the accused. Here the court considered that the Justice of the Peace erred in holding the 1989 Order was invalid in that any ambiguity in relation to the inaccuracy of the 1989 Order was remedied by the fixed points of the junctions with Myrekirk Road and Forfar Road and, in ay event, the presence of such a resolvable ambiguity did not render the measure invalid. In addition, the court noted that where there is reference to a geographical location by its name, the legislative measure does not cease to be valid if at a later date that location is given, or adopts, a different name. In relation to the specification of the locus, the court acknowledged here that the Crown could have given greater specification of the location and to do so would have been desirable, however, the court decided, with some hesitation, that the charge was not irrelevant on the basis of insufficient specification. As such the court allowed the Crown appeal against the decision to dismiss the complaint.
0141 553 4890
