108-NLR-NLR-V-71-R.-P.-GUNASINGHE-Appellant-and-G.-B.-YATIGAMMANA-Inspector-of-police-Respo.pdf
PANDITA-GUNAWARDENE, J.—Ounasinghe' v. YcUigammana
527
Present: Pandita-Gunawardene, J.R. P. GUNASINGHE, Appellant, and, G. B. YATIGAMMANA(Inspector of Police), Respondent
S.C. 1007168—M.C.KegaUe, 71369
Control of Prices Act—Price Order relating to bread—Meaning of word “ bread ”—Bread Ordinance (Cap. 217), a. 2.
A Price Order relating to Bale of bread is not rendered vague and ineffectiveby. the fact that it does not specify a particular kind of bread.
Appeal from a judgment of the Magistrate’s Court, Kegalle.
V. Kumaramvamy, with T. P. Amerasinghe and Miss S. M. Senaratne,for the accused-appellant.
8. W. B. Wadugodapitiya, Crown Counsel, for the Attorney-General.
Cur. adv. vult.
February 22, 1969. Pandita-Gitnawardene, J.—
The appellant, a tea-kiosk keeper at Gevilipitiya, Kegalle, was chargedand convicted of selling a loaf of bread 16 ounces for – /37 cents a pricein excess of the maximum controlled price of -/36 cents in contraventionof Food Price Order No. KE 125 published in Government Gazette 14776/10of 27.11.67. He was sentenced to a term of four weeks R.I. in additionto the imposition of a fine of Rs. 50/- in default two weeks R.I.
Learned Counsel for the appellant did not seriously contest the findingsof fact of the Magistrate. He has however challenged the convictionon two grounds.
It has been contended that the Price Order KE 125 which the appellantis alleged to have contravened is invalid in that the Deputy Controllerof Prices has no power to issue such an Order covering the Adminis-trative District of Kegalle. The Administrative Districts Act (Chapter392, Vol. XI, L.E.C.) established Administrative Districts with limitsspecified. By this Act an Administrative District of Kegalle has beenestablished and the limits defined—vide item 20 First Schedule to theAct.
Section 3 (2) of the Control of Prices Act (Chap. 173, Vol. VI, L.E.C.)read with Section 4 of the same Act empowers a Deputy Controller withinthe area of his appointment to make Orders fixing prices and prescribingconditions of sale to he operative within the area of his appointment.
528
PANDITA-GUNAWARDENE, J.—Qimaringhe v. Yaiigammana
The Price Order KE 125 has been made by Stanley Maralanda, DeputyController of Prices (Food), Kegalle District. And the evidenceis that Gevilipitiya is within the Kegalle Administrative District. Thiscontention of learned Counsel is without substance and must thereforefail.
The second ground of Appeal advanced by learned Counsel wasthat the Price Order KE 125 is vague and ineffective, for the reason thatthe particular kind of bread subject to the Control Order has not beenspecified. It was submitted that there are various kinds of bread, e.g.,brown bread, sandwich bread, and white bread; and that there is bread- lnade of maize and also bread made from flour. In these circumstancesit is said that there should be a particularisation of the bread in theOrder. This argument is not without ingenuity.
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary (1954 Reprint) gives to the wordbread the following meaning “ food made of flour or meal baked : food ".There is in Volume VIII of the Legislative Enactments an Ordinancetitled Bread (Chap. 217). It is an Ordinance to regulate the sale ofbread and to prevent the adulteration of bread offered for sale. Section 2which deals with the sale of bread and marking of the weight of loavesis in these terms :—
2.(1) No baker or vendor of bread shall sell any bread other than
fancy bread or rolls, except by weight and except in loavesweighing one-quarter of a pounds one-half of a pound, onepound, two pounds, or four pounds avoirdupois.
(2) Subject as hereinafter provided, no baker or vendor, of breadshall sell any loaf of bread or expose any such loaf for sale,unless the weight of the loaf is clearly marked on the loafby an impression made in baking, or on a band or wrapperaffixed round or enclosing the loaf:
Provided that nothing in the preceding provisions of this subsectionshall apply—
(а)in the case of fancy bread~or rolls, or of any loaf of bread which
is under one-half of a pound in weight; or
(б)Bread is nowhere defined in this Ordinance but there is a differentiationbetween bread and fancy bread and rolls.
Learned Counsel posed the rhetorical question, What is bread ? Breadas a common article of food has been known throughout the ages. It isnot so abstruse and difficult to understand what a man seeks, when heasks for a pound of bread. It is not brown bread or “ pink ” bread orany special kind of bread but bread so commonly known which is whitein colour. Any other bread would, I expect, to all intents and purposesbe of the fancy kind ; fancy meaning a departure from the ordinary.
In the result I am satisfied that the appellant has been rightly convicted.The appeal is dismissed.
Appeal dismissed.