Deer (Scotland) Act 1959

PART IV Enforcement and Procedure

26 Attempts to commit offences

Without prejudice to the operation of section sixty-one of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act, 1887, and section two of the Summary Jurisdiction (Scotland) Act, 1954, any person who attempts to commit, or does any act preparatory to the commission of, an offence against Part II or any order made thereunder or against Part III of this Act shall be guilty of an offence against this Act and shall be punishable in like manner as for the said offence.

27 Powers of search and seizure

(1) A constable may seize any deer, firearm or ammunition, vehicle or boat liable to be forfeited in pursuance of this Act.

(2) A sheriff or any justice of the peace, if satisfied by information on oath that there is reasonable ground to suspect any offence against section twenty-four of this Act to have been committed and that evidence of 'the commission of the offence is to be found on any premises or in any vehicle or boat, may grant a warrant authorising any constable at any time or times within one week from the date of such warrant to enter, if necessary by force, the said premises and every part thereof or the said vehicle or boat for the purpose of detecting the offence.

(3) A constable authorised by any such warrant as aforesaid to search any premises or any such vehicle or boat may search every person who is found in, or whom he has reasonable ground to believe to have recently left or to be about to enter, those premises or that vehicle or boat as the case may be, and may seize any article found on the premises, or in the vehicle or boat, or on any such person, which he has reasonable ground for believing to be evidence of the commission of any such offence as aforesaid.

(4) Where a constable has reasonable grounds for suspecting that an offence against section twenty-four of this Act has been committed and that evidence of the commission of the offence is to be found in any vehicle or boat, and that by reason of urgency or other good cause it is impracticable to apply for a warrant to search such vehicle or boat, the said constable may stop and search that vehicle or boat and may exercise the like power of search or seizure in relation to the vehicle or boat as might be conferred under subsection (2) of this section by the warrant of the sheriff or of a justice of the peace.

(5) No female shall in pursuance of any search authorised by this section be searched except by a female.

28 Apprehension of offenders

If any person shall be found committing any offence against the provisions of Part III or of this Part of this Act, any constable may arrest that person.

29 Forfeitures

(1) Any person who is convicted of an offence against Part II of this Act or any order made thereunder or against Part III of this Act in respect of which no provision for any forfeiture is expressly made shall be liable to the forfeiture of any deer illegally taken by him or of any deer or any firearm or ammunition in his possession at the time of the offence.

(2) Without prejudice to the operation of the last foregoing subsection any person who is convicted on indictment of an offence against Part III of this Act shall be liable to the forfeiture of any vehicle or boat used by him to assist in the commission of the offence.

(3) Any deer forfeited under section twenty-two of this Act, or any deer, vehicle or boat forfeited under this section shall be disposed of as the court may direct.

30 Disposal of deer seized under the Act

Where any deer seized under this Part of this Act is liable to forfeiture the person by whom it is seized may sell it and the net proceeds of the sale shall be liable to forfeiture in the same manner as the deer sold:

Provided that no person shall be subject to any liability on account of his neglect or failure to exercise the powers conferred on him by this section.

31 Offences by bodies corporate

(1) When an offence against this Act or any order made thereunder which has been committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary, or other similar officer of the body corporate, or any person purporting to act in such capacity, he, as well as the body corporate, shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

(2) In this section the expression " director " in relation to any body corporate established by or under any enactment for the purpose of carrying on under national ownership any industry or part of an industry or undertaking, being a body corporate whose affairs are managed by the members thereof, means a member of that body corporate.