Clause 45 - Interpretation

Part of Hunting Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 9:15 am on 27 February 2003.

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Photo of James Gray James Gray Conservative, North Wiltshire 9:15, 27 February 2003

Like the Minister, I am no lawyer and would not claim to be. There is definitely a technical question here. The law with regard to the ownership of land seems to me to be complex and difficult, and the way in which clause 45(3) reads into clause 4(1) is particularly worrying. Clause 4(1) does not say:

''A person commits an offence if he knowingly permits land which belongs to him to be entered''

for the purpose of carrying out the crime. In other words, the intention is not included in clause 4(1). It is still slightly worrying that somebody who owns an interest in land may inadvertently permit a crime to be carried out on his land without knowing about it. He may allow the criminals to enter his land and to use it in the course of the commission of an offence under subsection (1), but he would not know that it would be so used. However, the subsection does not contain the word ''purpose'', so the owner does not know that people intend to commit a crime when they go on to it. The words used are ''in the course of'' rather than ''for the purpose of''.