Lamont-Perkins v RSPCA [2012] EWHC 1002 (Admin) – Ss 4, 30 and 31 AWA – s 127 MCA – s 222 LGA.
1) section of an Act must be read in context of the Act as a whole.
- fact that s 30 AWA expressly provides for local authorities to prosecute under the AWA does not take other prosecutors out of the meaning of “the prosecutor” in s 31.
2) a challenge to a s 31 AWA certificate is an assertion that the prosecution is out of time and hence that the magistrates’ do not have jurisdiction; it was not an abuse of process issue.
3) P has a reasonable period of time, after obtaining the relevant evidence, in order to form an opinion about whether it justifies a prosecution.
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