50 The penalty provided for an offence under s 178B is less than 2 years imprisonment, namely imprisonment for one year. Therefore, it was argued on behalf of the plaintiff that as the parenthetical clause in s 8(1)(c) had no application to the instant case, the effect of s 8(1)(c) was to mandate a summary hearing of the proceedings.
51 However, Part 2, Division 3 of the Criminal Procedure Act on its face makes a different provision.
52 Section 18 of the Criminal Procedure Act provides that:
" The objects of this division are:
(a) To require the indictable offences listed in Table 1 to Schedule 1 to be dealt with summarily unless the prosecuting authority or the person charged with the offence concerned elects to have the offence dealt with on indictment; and
(b) to require the indictable offences listed in Table 2 to Schedule 1 to be dealt with summarily unless the prosecuting authority elects to have the offence concerned dealt with on indictment"
53 Part 2 of Table 2 of the Criminal Procedure Act deals with offences relating to property whether under the Crimes Act or the common law. It sets out a list of offences which includes s 178B where the value of the property or the amount of money in question in respect of which the offence is charged does not exceed $5,000.
54 The question for decision is whether the offences under s 178B of the Crimes Act with which the plaintiff stands charged are governed by s 8 of the Criminal Procedure Act or by s 18 and Table 2 of such Act.
55 The plaintiff contends that there is an inconsistency between the two provisions and that when s 8 of the Criminal Procedure Act was amended it impliedly repealed the provisions of s 18 and Table 2 to the extent that they applied to s 178B of the Crimes Act.
56 The question of construction depends upon determining the parliamentary intention. In determining such intention regard must be had, inter alia, to the fact that both provisions appear in the same Act and to the general form of s 8 of the Criminal Procedure Act on the one hand and the specific nature of s 18 and Table 2 of that Act on the other hand.
57 The basic rule of construction is that, absent express words of repeal, an existing statutory provision is not repealed or derogated from unless an intention so to do is necessarily to be implied.
58 The usual approach is that unless there are very strong grounds for an implied repeal it should not be found to have occurred. In construing two acts of parliament that are said to be inconsistent the general presumption is that parliament intended that both pieces of legislation should operate. Where the provisions that are said to be inconsistent are both in the same enactment a conclusion that there has been an implied repeal is even more difficult to arrive at than where two different acts of parliament are being construed. In both cases every attempt should be made to reconcile what is said to be the conflicting or competing statutory provisions. One mechanism for achieving this is to treat an apparent inconsistency as an exception to a general rule stated in the competing or conflicting acts or parts of the one act.
59 In the present case there is a provision which requires an offence which carries a penalty of less than two years imprisonment to be dealt with summarily. Section 8 is quite explicit, all such offences "must" be dealt with summarily. Section 18 and Part 2 of Table 2 to Schedule 1 of the same Act requires the prosecution of offences against property, which include offences under s178B, to be dealt with summarily unless the prosecuting authority elects to have such offences dealt with on indictment.
60 The general provision in s 8 should, in my opinion, be read as being subject to the exception provided for in that part of the Act which makes specific provision in relation, inter alia, to s178B of the Crimes Act. So read, the two provisions of the Act, although introduced at different times, are not inconsistent.
61 The consequence of such a construction is that the prosecuting authority has the right of election in relation to the procedure by which the relevant charges will be heard and determined.
62 In the instant case the prosecuting authority has elected to have the charges against the plaintiff under s178B dealt with on indictment. There has been no argument put that the election so to do was, in effect, exercised in the negative at an early stage in the proceedings before the Magistrate and that, as a consequence, it was not thereafter open to the prosecuting authority to make an election to have the offences dealt with on indictment.
63 In the absence of any such argument I do not think it necessary or appropriate to examine the question of negative election and its effect, if any, on a later positive election.
64 For the foregoing reasons I am of the opinion that the procedure for prosecuting an offence under s 178B of the Crimes Act is governed by the provisions of s 18 and Part 2 of Table 2 to Schedule 1 of the Criminal Procedure Act.
65 Accordingly, I am of opinion that orders 2, 3 and 4 in the summons of 11 August 2000 should be refused.
66 Orders: