Law for Non-Lawyers

Law for Non-Lawyers
Answer EITHER question 1 OR question 2 (JUST answer ONE question)

1. Hilda has been taken to hospital after being hit over the head with a chair leg by Billy, her husband. The incident took place in front of their two children age five and eight. Billy arrives at the hospital an hour later having stopped off at the ‘Two Ducks’ for a few pints, and is told by the nurse that he cannot see his wife. Billy slaps the nurse across the face, and the police are called. Billy is subsequently arrested for assault both on the nurse and his wife.

The Crown Prosecution Service now have Billy’s file. Apply the Guidance and general principles that must be taken into account by them when considering the decision as to whether they should prosecute Billy for the alleged assaults.

OR

2. Using your knowledge of the principles and rules used by judges to interpret statutes, comment on whether Derek has committed an offence in the following situation.

Prohibition of Unsolicited Parties (Fictitious) Act 2010
Section 1 (1)
This Act applies to a gathering of more than a hundred people on land for a social purpose in which it is likely that alcohol will be consumed
Section 1 (2)
Subject to Section 1 (3) it is a criminal offence to organise such a gathering without the permission of a local magistrate unless the organiser is an exempt person.
Section 1 (3)
For this purpose an exempt person means the occupier, any member of his family or his employee or agent of his.

Ray, the Manager of a builder’s merchants, asks Derek, a Sales Assistant at the same workplace, to keep an eye on his 5-acre smallholding while he is on holiday in Spain. Derek emails a few of his friends to attend his 21st birthday party in a disused barn on Ray’s farm land. Due to a technical error, the email was sent to his entire email address book. Over 600 people arrive at the party and a neighbouring farmer calls the police complaining about the noise. Derek is arrested for breach of the Prohibition of Unsolicited Parties (Fictitious) Act 2010.
Word limit: 2,000 words

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