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Consumer Crime Cases is exclusive to consumercrime.co.uk. Here you will find the digests of hundreds of appeal cases relating to consumer protection offences. Crucially, however, Consumer Crime Cases is not just a specialist resource. Most of the principles in consumer protection cases apply equally to criminal law generally. There are also many cases digested on this site which do not specifically relate to consumer protection matters, but deal with those aspects of criminal law and procedure with which all those engaged in criminal proceedings should be aware. As one Head of Trading Standards told the author, he would not go to trial without first checking the legal principles involved on Consumer Crime Cases.
The main topics can be seen in the "keywords" (see the menu) which, when clicked on will take you to those cases dealing with the listed subjects. There are, however, other ways of finding what you need – please see the menu for "search tips".
The digests are prefaced by a statement of the points of law involved in the case. They then typically give a summary of the relevant facts and give extracts from the relevant judgements which contain the points of law concerned. Wherever possible the digests quote the judges own words, within the context in which they were used, so as to preserve their meaning and authoritative value.
Where appropriate, there is commentary on the points of law and cross referencing to other digested cases to enable the reader to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the precedent and how it relates to other authorities.
About the author
The author and compiler of the digests and the articles on this site is Victor Smith LLB, LLM, a former solicitor. In the 30 years up to 2007, he was employed by Northamptonshire County Council, most latterly heading up its Legal Services. During that time, he was involved both as adviser and advocate for the prosecution in numerous trading standards cases. Some such cases culminated in the following appeals: Lewin v Rothersthorpe Road Garage Ltd (1984), Lewin v Bland (1984), Amos v Britvic (1985), Amos v Melcon (Frozen Foods) Ltd (1985), Lewin v Fuell (1991), Balding v Lew-Ways Limited (1995), Lewin v Truebell plc (1996), MGN Ltd v Northamptonshire County Council (1997), Wall v Rose and Sargent (1998), R v Kettering Magistrates' Court ex p MRB Insurance Brokers Ltd (2000), Lewin v Barratt Homes Limited (2000) and Lewin v Purity Soft Drinks Ltd (2004).
The author is a former specialist editor of the Justice of the Peace Reports, which, until their sad discontinuance in 2018, had, for 182 years, been an excellent source of current case law of particular relevance to those practising in the Magistrates' Courts. The demise of the Justice of the Peace Reports has increased the value of Consumer Crime Cases as a resource for the expert consideration of current case law.
The author's Master of Laws degree, awarded in 2019, is in Food Law. He gained a distinction in every module including his dissertation which was on "False Food Descriptions After Brexit".
Victor Smith is the author of 82 articles which have been published in legal journals. Some of those articles, or versions thereof, are reproduced on this site: Verification of Photographs (1981), A Licence to Sell Counterfeit Goods (1993), Searches by Power or Consent (1995), Effective Diligence (Reliance on Certificates of Compliance) (1995), The Most Likely Meaning of "Likely" (1996), Disclaimers and the "Bull" Disclaimer (1996), Promises to the Future: Goods and Services (1997), The Information in the Information (1998), False Statements as to Services on Goods (1999), Promises to the Future and the Property Misdescriptions Act (2000), "My Lawyer said it was Legal": Due Diligence? (2001), Trade or Business (2001), Multiple Prosecutions of Similar Offences (2002), False Trade Descriptions and Economy of Truth (2002), Misleading Price Comparisons (2002), A Local Authority's Ability to Prosecute Outside its Area (2003), Defence by Ambush (2004), Legal Lies and False Trade Descriptions (2005), Evidence of Children Making Underage Test Purchases (2006), Lost, Altered or Destroyed Evidence (2007), The Trade Descriptions Act is Dead: Long Live the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (2008), Knowledge and Trade Mark Offences and Defences (2009), Material Averments (2010), Due Diligence and State of Mind: Tesco Revisited (2011), The Causation Shift: Fraud, Unfair Trading and Europe (2011), Dock Identification and Identity Parades (2011), Fraudulent Trading: The Four Principles (2012), Alternative Charges: Help or Hindrance? (2012), Retention of Seized Property (2013), Legal Certainty in European Law (2013), Duplicity Under the Criminal Procedure Rules (2013), Costs Against the Prosecution for Prosecuting and the Meaning of "Improper" (2014), Multiple Incident Allegations (2015), Continuing Offences (2015), Food Label Can Mislead Despite Accurate Ingredients List (2015), Computing Time and Date - When the Courts Can't Count (2015), Commercial Practice and a Single Consumer (2016), Aggressive Commercial Practices, Confidentiality Clauses, Consent Connivance and Due Diligence (2016), No Case for Unsworn Evidence in Due Diligence Defence (2017), Who's in the Dock? - Amending the Defendant's Name (2018), Guilt from Circumstance: A Matter of Inference (2019), Double Jeopardy: Autrefois & Beyond (2021), Access all Areas: The Ghost of Woolworths (2023).
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