High Court sets limit on parties to licensing appeals

November 25, 2009

There is nothing in the Licensing Act that gives either an express or implied right for an interested party or responsible authority to be a respondent to an appeal, the High Court has ruled.

Lord Justice Moses also rejected the suggestion that magistrates have an inherent jurisdiction to permit anyone to become a respondent to appear other than the groups identified in schedule 5 of the Act.

The judicial review case followed a battle between Nottinghamshire police and Tesco over licensing conditions imposed on a new Tesco Express. The licensing committee had granted the retailer a licence but subject to conditions that had been requested by the police. These involved the use of an incident/refusals book and the marking of alcohol in the store in a way that meant it could be identified as having come from that store.

Tesco appealed against the imposition of those conditions. The district judge then refused an application by the police to be joined to the appeal proceedings – a decision the police took to judicial review.

Nick Landells of Poppleston Allen Solicitors said the High Court did rule that magistrates “have the authority to regulate their own proceedings insofar as it is necessary to ensure their function to dispose of the matter is properly discharged.” It is open to them to hear evidence from anyone, provided they consider it necessary to do so to ensure the licensing objectives are met, he added.

Landells said: “If read literally, this could mean a Magistrates' Court taking a more inquisitorial stance and potentially issuing summons for witnesses to attend the hearing if they think they need to hear from them to ensure the licensing objectives are promoted.”