Wakilii

Rex v D'Silva (Criminal Appeal No. 11 of 1947)

East African Court of Appeal · [1947] EACA 75 · 1947 Appeal Allowed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Criminal appeal from conviction for permitting unlicensed food manufacture on premises
Decision
Appellant's conviction quashed

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

The word 'permit' in rule 4 of the Public Health (Manufacture, Preparation, Packing and Repacking of Food) Rules, 1944 means either giving leave for an act or abstaining from taking reasonable steps to prevent an act within one's power to prevent. A landlord who knows of unlicensed food manufacture by his tenant's sub-tenant but lacks power to prevent it does not 'permit' the contravention merely through knowledge, inaction, and receipt of advantage. Appeal allowed and conviction quashed.

Outcome

Appellant's conviction quashed

Facts

The appellant owned premises which he let to Ngara Bakery under an agreement for lease containing a covenant against sub-letting. Ngara Bakery sub-let part of the premises to Sandberger for manufacturing foodstuff. The appellant knew Sandberger wanted the premises as a factory and that Sandberger had arranged space with Ngara Bakery. The appellant also directly let nearby servants' quarters to Sandberger. Sandberger manufactured chocolates on the premises without a licence required under the Public Health Rules. The appellant was convicted of permitting unlicensed food preparation on his land. The magistrate acquitted on the charge relating to the servants' quarters for lack of knowledge but convicted on the charge relating to the Ngara Bakery building despite the sub-letting being by the tenant, not the appellant.

Issues

  1. Whether a landlord who lets premises to a tenant who then sub-lets to an unlicensed food manufacturer can be said to 'permit' the unlicensed manufacture under rule 4 of the Public Health (Manufacture, Preparation, Packing and Repacking of Food) Rules, 1944.
  2. Whether knowledge of unlicensed activity, standing by, receiving advantage from it, and failing to take steps to stop it amounts to 'permitting' under the rule when the landlord lacks power to prevent the act.

Orders

  • Appeal allowed.
  • Conviction quashed.

Rules and key headnotes

Statutory Interpretation — Meaning of 'Permit' — Public Health Regulations
The word 'permit' in regulatory legislation means one of two things: either to give leave for an act which without that leave could not be legally done, or to abstain from taking reasonable steps to prevent the act where it is within a person's power to prevent it.
Criminal Law & Procedure — Permitting Offences — Requirement of Power to Prevent
Knowledge of an unlawful act, standing by, receipt of advantage from it, and failure to take steps to stop it will not amount to permitting the act under regulatory rules unless the person so acting has power to prevent the act.
Administrative Law — Landlord and Tenant — Landlord's Liability for Tenant's Sub-Tenant
A landlord who lets premises to a tenant who then sub-lets to a third party cannot be held liable for permitting the third party's unlicensed activities unless the tenant is shown to be the landlord's agent, thereby giving the landlord control over the sub-tenant's activities.

Legislation cited (2)

  • Public Health (Manufacture, Preparation, Packing and Repacking of Food) Rules, 1944 r.4
  • Rent Restriction Ordinance

Cases cited (1)

  • Berton v Alliance Economic Investment Co [1922] 1 KB 759

Full judgment

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The original judgment as reported. Read the original PDF before relying on any passage.

Rex v D'Silva (Criminal Appeal No. 11 of 1947) [1947] EACA 75 (1 January 1947)
Source: this page presents Wakilii’s issue analysis and metadata for a publicly reported Ugandan judgment. Any AI-generated summary is marked as such. Judgment text is sourced from the Uganda Legal Information Institute (ulii.org). Wakilii is not affiliated with ULII.