whether an assault is an offence “in connection” with the driving of a
motorcar.
Second, there is doubt in relation to the consequences as to whether the court
properly suspended Zachary's
licence. When all of the requirements are
satisfied s14 authorises the court to cancel the licence. In fact in this case the
court has suspended Zachary's licence.
These issues are discussed below. If any one of the issues is decided in
Zachary's favour he will succeed on the appeal. If Zachary succeeds on the
first issue he will show that the court did not have any power to take action on
his licence. If he succeeds on the second issue he will show that the court took
an action on his licence that it was not authorised to take.
“In Connection With”
Introduction
The issue here is whether the offence for which Zachary was convicted, that is
assault, is an offence “in connection with” the driving of a motorcar. The
phrase "in connection with" indicates that there must be some link or relation
between the "offence" and "the driving of a motor car”. While there must be
some sort of link, it leaves open what that link is. There are in fact two
variables –
one thing can be connected with another in different ways and in
varying degrees for the same way. In short, the issue devolves upon the nature
and strength of the link.
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Options
Given that the phrase "in connection with" is so open there are many possible
meanings. Three obvious and plausible ones are suggested here in Meanings 1-
3.
Meaning 1
One meaning is that driving a motorcar is one of the legal elements of the
offence. For example a provision making driving a motor vehicle while under
the influence of alcohol an offence would read something like this: "Any
person who drives a motorcar on a public street while under the influence of
alcohol is guilty of an offence”. The very words of the offence refer to the
offender as a person who drives a motorcar. It is therefore not possible to
commit the offence without driving a motorcar. If this meaning is correct
Zachary is not guilty.
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It cannot be stressed enough how important it is to understand the nature
of the ambiguity before proceeding to resolve it.
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