Skip to content
Law Society of Scotland
Search
Find a Solicitor
Contact us
About us
Sign in
Search
Find a Solicitor
Contact us
About us
Sign in
  • For members

    • For members

    • CPD & Training

    • Membership and fees

    • Rules and guidance

    • Regulation and compliance

    • Journal

    • Business support

    • Career growth

    • Member benefits

    • Professional support

    • Lawscot Wellbeing

    • Lawscot Sustainability

  • News and events

    • News and events

    • Law Society news

    • Blogs & opinions

    • CPD & Training

    • Events

  • Qualifying and education

    • Qualifying and education

    • Qualifying as a Scottish solicitor

    • Career support and advice

    • Our work with schools

    • Lawscot Foundation

    • Funding your education

    • Social mobility

  • Research and policy

    • Research and policy

    • Research

    • Influencing the law and policy

    • Equality and diversity

    • Our international work

    • Legal Services Review

    • Meet the Policy team

  • For the public

    • For the public

    • What solicitors can do for you

    • Making a complaint

    • Client protection

    • Find a Solicitor

    • Frequently asked questions

    • Your Scottish solicitor

  • About us

    • About us

    • Contact us

    • Who we are

    • Our strategy, reports and plans

    • Help and advice

    • Our standards

    • Work with us

    • Our logo and branding

    • Equality and diversity

  1. Home
  2. For members
  3. Journal Archive
  4. Issues
  5. May 2019
  6. Fixed penalties and fair trials

Fixed penalties and fair trials

Human rights briefing: the court has upheld the ECHR compatibility of the fixed penalty provisions of the Antisocial Behaviour Act, administrative necessity justifying the short time limit for action
20th May 2019 | Ross Cameron

In Queen, Petitioner [2019] CSOH 10, a petition for judicial review seeking declarator that the Antisocial Behaviour etc (Scotland) Act 2004, part 11 was not law by virtue of s 29 of the Scotland Act 1998, in respect that it was incompatible with the petitioner’s rights under ECHR articles 6 and 13, was refused.

The petitioner, Jordan Queen, had been issued with a fixed penalty notice. He had disputed the underlying circumstances but intended to pay the notice. His father was told of the notice and said he would “deal with the matter”. However, he forgot to do so, and the notice was neither paid nor disputed within the required 28-day period.

The petitioner then received a letter from the clerk of the justice of the peace court informing him that the notice had been registered as a fine. He consulted a solicitor who sought to have the matter reviewed, but was advised that the matter could not be reopened. Subsequently the petitioner lodged a bill of suspension in the High Court of Justiciary, which was refused.

Grounds of challenge

Part 11 of the 2004 Act provides for the issue of a fixed penalty notice by the police in certain areas, offering a recipient the opportunity of paying a fixed penalty in discharge of any liability they have to be convicted of the offence to which the notice relates. Section 131 provides that where the person to whom the notice has been issued asks to be tried for the offence, they must give notice of their request within 28 days of receipt of the penalty notice. If, within that period, the penalty has not been paid and such notice has not been given, they are liable to pay to the court a sum equal to one and a half times the amount of the fixed penalty, which sum is to be treated as a fine imposed by the court.

It was the petitioner’s submission on seeking judicial review that part 11 operated in contravention of the right to a fair trial provided for in article 6 ECHR and was therefore not law in terms of s 29(1) of the Scotland Act.

He also argued that part 11 violated his right to an effective remedy under article 13, as there was no possibility of review of the fixed penalty notice after the 28-day period expired.

A right protected

Lord Brailsford refused the petition. The court found in fact that the petitioner had delegated the responsibility of either paying or challenging the notice to his father. The petitioner’s situation was therefore the result of a deliberate course of action undertaken by him and it could not have a bearing on the compatibility with article 6 of the statutory provision challenged (opinion, para 16).

The court further held (para 17) that part 11 was compliant with article 6. The statutory provisions expressly provided that the recipient of a notice might ask to be tried for the alleged offence, such requests requiring to be made before the expiry of 28 days from the date the notice was given. As such, part 11 did not deprive the recipient of the right to a fair trial but rather entitled and guaranteed such a right, subject only to requiring the right to be exercised within a stipulated period. The imposition of such a period was reasonable and administratively necessary.

On the contention that there was a breach of article 13, the court held (para 19) that no free standing right arose from this article. Moreover, the circumstances did not disclose any contravention of article 13 where the statutory framework constituted an effected remedy available to the petitioner.

Comment

In light of Lord Brailsford’s opinion, it is clear that so far as the court is concerned, when a person embarks on a deliberate course of action, it is unlikely that they will be able to argue successfully that their right to a fair trial has been breached.

This case also serves as a timely reminder that, as with many things ECHR, reasonableness and administrative necessity are key considerations that have to be taken into account. Further, it emphasises that there is a broad spectrum of fact sensitive information that a decision maker must have cognisance of when considering whether there has been a breach of ECHR rights. 

The Author

Ross Cameron, senior solicitor, Anderson Strathern LLP
Share this article
Add To Favorites
https://lawware.co.uk/

In this issue

  • Claiming under the advance payment scheme
  • Time for a written constitution
  • New form F9: worth the wait?
  • Wedded to a matrimonial property regime
  • Brexit divorce set to increase UK's “skype families”
  • Corporate personality: Justice v Doctrine
  • Reading for pleasure
  • The Law Society of Scotland Expert Witness Index 2019
  • Opinion: Judith Robertson
  • Book reviews
  • Profile: Michael Clancy
  • President's column
  • Is your legal data being held to ransom?
  • People on the move
  • Sign up – log in – action!
  • Frozen out?
  • Taxing times for litigators
  • DNA analysis: when research just isn’t enough
  • Brexit focus: EU citizen settlement remedies
  • Why employers should report on wellbeing
  • 3% – and then what?
  • 1,000 days of mediation
  • Barred from acting
  • To name or not to name?
  • Enter the “What I Think”
  • Fixed penalties and fair trials
  • Auto-enrolment: keeping employers on their toes
  • Scottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunal
  • Vulnerable accused: a need for knowledge
  • Burdens and who can enforce them
  • Convener’s final bow
  • Public policy highlights
  • TCSP review update
  • Westminster: answering the call
  • Accredited paralegal practice area highlight: family law
  • Accredited Paralegal Committee profile
  • Nyona named star paralegal
  • Ask Ash
  • Moving nightmares part 2
  • Complaints: seeking consistent practice
  • Morally bankrupt?
  • For the elderly: how SFE works
  • Standing up to challenge

Recent Issues

Dec 2023
Nov 2023
Oct 2023
Sept 2023
Search the archive

Additional

Law Society of Scotland
Atria One, 144 Morrison Street
Edinburgh
EH3 8EX
If you’re looking for a solicitor, visit FindaSolicitor.scot
T: +44(0) 131 226 7411
E: lawscot@lawscot.org.uk
About us
  • Contact us
  • Who we are
  • Strategy reports plans
  • Help and advice
  • Our standards
  • Work with us
Useful links
  • Find a Solicitor
  • Sign in
  • CPD & Training
  • Rules and guidance
  • Website terms and conditions
Law Society of Scotland | © 2025
Made by Gecko Agency Limited