zigzagzig
Well-Known Member
[Paragraph 14] The case stated, dated 3 September 2008, poses the following questions for the opinion of this court:
"(1) whether the combined effect of section 101 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980, and the provisions of the Hunting Act 2004, are such as to place a burden on the defendant to prove the exemptions set out in Schedule 1 to the Hunting Act 2004?
(2) whether the term "hunt" a wild mammal with a dog used in section 1 of the Hunting Act 2004 includes the activity of searching for a wild animal for the purpose of stalking or flushing it?
Mr Justice Maddison ruled:
[Paragraph 90] For these reasons, our formal answers to the questions posed in the case stated are:
Question 1: No, but there is an evidential burden on the defendant.
Question 2: No.
[Paragraph 37] In our judgment, for the reasons which we have indicated, the term "hunts" a wild mammal with a dog, as used in section 1 of the Hunting Act 2004, does not include the mere searching for an unidentified wild mammal for the purpose of stalking or flushing it. That said, the question whether a person "hunts" a wild mammal with a dog is heavily fact specific, and we do not attempt to define by reference to particular hypothetical factual circumstances when hunting takes place for the purpose of the 2004 Act and when it does not.
"(1) whether the combined effect of section 101 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980, and the provisions of the Hunting Act 2004, are such as to place a burden on the defendant to prove the exemptions set out in Schedule 1 to the Hunting Act 2004?
(2) whether the term "hunt" a wild mammal with a dog used in section 1 of the Hunting Act 2004 includes the activity of searching for a wild animal for the purpose of stalking or flushing it?
Mr Justice Maddison ruled:
[Paragraph 90] For these reasons, our formal answers to the questions posed in the case stated are:
Question 1: No, but there is an evidential burden on the defendant.
Question 2: No.
[Paragraph 37] In our judgment, for the reasons which we have indicated, the term "hunts" a wild mammal with a dog, as used in section 1 of the Hunting Act 2004, does not include the mere searching for an unidentified wild mammal for the purpose of stalking or flushing it. That said, the question whether a person "hunts" a wild mammal with a dog is heavily fact specific, and we do not attempt to define by reference to particular hypothetical factual circumstances when hunting takes place for the purpose of the 2004 Act and when it does not.