(CRIMINAL REVISION)

SUDAN GOVERNMEWT v. ABDEL FATAH ABDEL GHANI

AC-CR-REV-I-1966

Principles

·  Road Traffic—Driver not holding a current driving licence—Whether is covered by an insurance policy depends on the terms of the policy—Road Traffic Ordinance,s53.

A person who does not hold a current driving licence and drives a motor-car which is insured against third party risks  cannot be convicted automatically under Road Traffic Ordinance, s.53’ because whether he is covered by the insurance policy or not depends on the terms of the policy in question.

Judgment

Babiker Awadalla C.J. - January 8, 1966:—I refuse confirmation of the finding of guilty under the Road, Traffic Ordinance, s.53 , and I hereby annul the order of disqualification imposed in A2.

I regret, I am unable to uphold the contention of the learned magistrate that a person who drives a motor-car which is duly insured against third party risks can nonetheless be convicted under section 53 if he does not hold a current driving licence.

This is certainly not the law, for whether a person who does not hold a driving licence is covered by an insurance policy or otherwise would depend on the terms of the policy in question: In the present case the Policy of Insurance of A2 makes an exception—inter alia—against the car being driven by any person other than a driver. A driver is of course a person who has had a licence which has not been forfeited by order of the court whether or not its validity had been affected by affluxion of time or otherwise. In other words every person who has held a driving licence is normally covered so long as the vehicle is insured.

- The learned magistrate seems to have accepted a plea of guilty in this case in which the issue involved is a bit ticklish and not normally properly conceived even by lawyers. This is wrong. A decision as to whether a person has committed an offence under ‘section or otherwise always requires a careful scrutiny of the relevant policy. It is mostly a question of interpretation in which the acceptance of the confession of a layman may lead to a serious miscarriage of justice.