This document provides information on the correct way in which to read legal cases in the UK and how to extract key bits of information from them.
An example of how a case note is written is also provided, along with the seminar which relates to the lecture.
R v Munks
What question is the court seeking to answer?
The point of law to be determined is whether the wires leading from the kitchen to the
sitting room, draped in such a way that they would inflict grievous bodily harm (GBH) when
triggered, amounted to being an ‘engine’ calculated to inflict GBH.
There are also two distinct definitions of ‘engine’, the wider meaning of an electrical
contrivance or device and the narrower meaning of mechanical contrivance or ‘machine’ it
is to be decided, which meaning the court will follow.
What answer does the court arrive at?
The court decide that as this is a penal statute, to follow the narrow definition of ‘engine’,
i.e. ‘machine’ and so the appellant’s conviction was quashed.
What reasons does the court give in support?
At present, penal statutes are to give the narrower meanings to words in cases of ambiguity
(1). The case of Allen v Thompson is mentioned, in reference to the words of Mr Justice
Blackburn ‘other engine or instrument’ which imply a variety of things. Because of Point 1,
‘engine’ is seen to mean mechanical contrivance, which the wires are not.
R v Cockburn
Question of Law
Does the contraption the defendant has set up sufficiently satisfy the definition of
mechanical contrivance or machine i.e. ‘or other engine’?
Rule of Law
Para. 5 Section 31 of OAPA 1861
Decision of Court
The appeal failed as the contraption was identified as a mechanical contrivance set up to
inflict GBH when triggered. In short, it was properly described as a mechanical contrivance
or machine and so is unquestionably an ‘other engine’ for the purposes of S.31 OAPA.
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