Schedule 3 - Hunting With Dogs: Prohibition
Hunting Bill
4:45 pm
Mr Edward Leigh (Gainsborough, Conservative)
My hon. Friend the Member for Aylesbury (Mr. Lidington) is, as he says, not a lawyer; that is a compliment, I suppose. However, if he were a lawyer, he would know that us criminal hacks who are incapable of looking beyond the simplest law book tend to rely completely on ``Archbold'', the criminal pleader's bible, in which can be found all that one needs to know about criminal law as it appertains to most cases in which a lawyer is likely to be involved. It is therefore not a bad idea to read what ``Archbold'' says about the offence that we are considering.
Chapter 18 of ``Archbold'', which is headed
``Criminal Pleading, Evidence and Practice''
states that someone
``who aids, abets, counsels or procures the commission''
of an offence by someone else is
``guilty of the like offence''.
That was the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Aylesbury. That is the position under the law at present, as ``Archbold'' makes clear.
What does aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring mean? It means that participation by helping in a crime can take many forms, including keeping watch, encouragement and providing the means; dogs, the use of land and vehicles, for example. That is why, in discussing the definition, it is important to appreciate that voluntary presence at the scene of a crime is a fact from which guilt can be inferred; but not necessarily.
Paragraph 18-18 of ``Archbold'' is clear. Common sense tells us that a person cannot escape responsibility for a traditional criminal offence simply because he was not actually committing the crime of breaking into the premises but was keeping watch, providing vehicles and all the other things mentioned in ``Archbold''. As you will see, Mr. O'Hara, the present criminal law is clear and adequate to catch people who aid and abet an offence.
Given that the present criminal law is so clear, why are paragraphs 2 to 4 necessary? They may not spread the net wider than the usual principles that I mentioned, in which case there is no point in including them. If so, why are they in the Bill? Is the intention to spread the net wider?
I do not understand why the provisions are necessary. What is the purpose of creating the crimes mentioned in paragraphs 2 to 4? What is it about hunting that justifies the special treatment that legislators have not deemed necessary in other cases, especially as the supporters of schedule 3 have decided that the offence is not so serious as to justify imprisonment? It is therefore incumbent on the Minister, when he responds, to tell us exactly what is in his mind.
The position is made worse by the lack of clarity in paragraphs 2 to 4, in relation to both a prohibited act and the state of mind. The purpose of the unsatisfactory paragraphs cannot be to clarify the application of the criminal law to secondary parties with regard to the crime of hunting, which would exist in addition to the application of the usual principles. The usual principles are absolutely clear. What is it about hunting that makes those paragraphs necessary?
However, we also have other worries. If a new criminal offence is to be created, it should be clearly defined. What does the word ``knowingly'' mean? If a landowner allows his land to be used for lawful activities, as my hon. Friend the Member for Aylesbury said, but an offence is committed, would he be caught under the provision? The provision is highly applicable in the countryside, but not so applicable in the commission of a normal crime. If someone sets out to commit a burglary or beat someone up, it is easy to interpret the word ``knowingly''. In the complex situation of the countryside, however, it is more difficult.