CASE SUMMARIES v 19 February 1996

The following notes of judgments were prepared by the reporters of the All England Law Reports.

Crime

R v Hick; R v Cartell; CA (Crim Div) (Pill LJ, Colman, Maurice Jay JJ); 23 Jan 1996

Where, in the course of a trial of the appellants on charges of burglary, the indictment was stayed and leave given for the preferment of a fresh bill of indictment but no fresh indictment was drawn up or signed by an officer of the court in accordance with s 2(1) of the Administration of Justice Act 1933, the remainder of the trial had been a nullity. Since there had been no valid indictment, there could be no valid verdict and no valid sentence.

John Virgo (Alan Harris, Plymouth); David Mason, who did not appear below (Kieran & Co, Worcester) for the appellants; John Maxwell (CPS) for the Crown.

Planning

R v Kensington and Chelsea RBC, ex p Europa Foods; QBD (Macpherson J); 15 Jan 1996

The council was entitled to grant a certificate of lawful proposed use under section 192 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 in relation to a two existing adjacent units which were to be amalgamated. Auction rooms were a shop and their use was for retail sales and display of goods.

Joseph Harper QC and N. Taggart (Hugh Cartwright & Amin) for the applicant; Timothy Straker (Borough Solicitor) for the council; Christopher Lockhart-Mummery QC (Stephenson Harwood) for an interested party.

Rates

Hampson (t/a Abbey Self Storage) v Newcastle upon Tyne City Council; CA (Stuart-Smith, Evans, Roch LJJ); 18 Jan 1996

In the absence of actual occupation or possession of some value to the possessor, mere ownership or legal possession of land was insufficient to render a person liable for business rates.

George Bartlett QC, Christopher Boyle (McKenna & Co) for the ratepayer; Nigel Macleod QC, Christopher Lewsley (A Dodds, Newcastle) for the authority.

Tax

Carvill v Inland Revenue Commissioners; ChD (Sir John Vinelott); 21 Dec 1995

On an application to remit a tax case to the appeal commissioners asking for clarification of their decision and findings of additional facts, the appellant was entitled to expect that the findings covered all relevant matters, and that the decision was full and fair. Apart from that, the court should be slow to send the case back and should do so only if the commissioners' conclusion was an impossible one to have reached on the primary facts found.

Andrew Thornhill QC and Giles Goodfellow (Slaughter & May) for the taxpayer; Alan Moses QC and Rabinder Singh (Inland Revenue Solicitor) for the Crown.

CORRECTION: In Effort Shipping Co Ltd v Linden Management SA (LawReport, 6 February), the headline should have read: "Infested cargo was dangerous to other goods". Counsel for the shipper was Edmund Broadbent.