The National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act, 1946 / with general introduction and annotations by N.P. Shannon and Douglas Potter.

  • United Kingdom
Date:
1946
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act, 1946 / with general introduction and annotations by N.P. Shannon and Douglas Potter. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    48/252 (page 38)
    NO. 35.—NATIONAL INSURANCE (INDUSTRIAL INJURIES) delivering and signing the statutory declaration for commencing business under section 94 (1) (c) of the 1929 Act (2 Halsbury’s Statutes 833) or signing the annual return under section 110 (1), 7bid. (2 Halsbury’s Statutes 848) or signing cheques as secretary and generally performing the ordinary work of a secretary of a company) was within the section, although he had never been formally appointed as secretary, or was given some other description by the company itself. , ‘“ Other officer of the body corporate ”’ is also an elastic term which it servant of the company liable to be prosecuted; yet there are many statutory definitions to the effect that ‘‘ officer ’’ includes servant ; see the Local Government Act, 1988, section 305 (26 Halsbury’s Statutes 467) ; Public Health Act, 1986, section 348 (1) (29 Halsbury’s Statutes 588) ; and the Road Traffic Act, 1980, section 116 (4) (23 Halsbury’s Statutes 685). Presumably the term is only intended to refer to persons in some sort of executive position who are able to exercise some measure of control, and who may thus properly be held to be personally liable if they connive or consent to breaches of the Act, or are negligent. It may be noted that in section 880 of the Companies Act, 1929 (2 Halsbury’s Statutes 1005) there is no definition at all of ‘‘officer.”” In the Friendly Societies Act, 1896, section 107 (8 Halsbury’s Statutes 1008), “‘ officer ’’ includes any trustee, treasurer, secretary or member of the committee of management of a society or branch, or person appointed by the society or branch to sue and be sued on its behalf. Similarly in section 79 of the Industrial and Provident Societies Act, 1893 (9 Halsbury’s Statutes 762), “‘ officer ’’ extends to any treasurer, secretary, member of the committee of management or other directing body, manager or servant (other than a servant appointed by the committee) of a society. These two last statutory definitions, although only applicable to the interpretation of the particular Acts, do express the general meaning of the term. As to the recovery of contributions on the prosecution of a body corporate for failure to pay the same see section 69 (7) of the Act, post, and note on “‘ Failure to pay contributions’, ante, p. 14. General provisions as to prosecutions.—No proceedings for an offence under the Act can be instituted except by or with the consent of the Minister, or by an inspector or other officer authorized in that behalf by special or general directions of the Minister. Any inspector or officer so authorized may prosecute or conduct proceedings before a court of summary jurisdiction although he is not of counsel or a solicitor (section 68 (1) and (2), post), and the right to conduct proceedings before the court is not confined to the particular officer who instituted the proceedings ; R. v. Northumber- land Justices, Ex parte Spicer (1928), 92 L.J.K.B. 621; 44 Digest 1808, 737. Proceedings for an offence may be commenced at any time (i) within the period of three months from the date on which evidence, sufficient in the opinion of the Minister to justify a prosecution for the offence, comes to his knowledge ; or (ii) within the period of twelve months after the com- mission of the offence, whichever period last expires ; section 68 (8), post. A certificate purporting to be signed by or on behalf of the Minister as to the date on which evidence came to his knowledge is conclusive ; section 68 (4), post. . In many proceedings for an offence under this Act, the wife or husband of the accused is competent to give evidence, whether for or against the accused, any communication made to her or him during the marriage by the accused ; section 68 (5), post. This provision declares the law as laid down in section 4 of the Criminal Evidence Act, 1898 (8 Halsbury’s Statutes 251); Leach v. R., [1912] A.C. 805; 14 Digest 458, 4800, and R. v. Acaster (1912), 106 L.T. 384, C.C.A. ; 14 Digest 458, 4805. See generally 18 Halsbury’s Laws (2nd Edn.) 728.