§ SIR JOHN STIRLING-MAXWELL (Glasgow, College)To ask the Lord Advocate whether his attention has been called to the action brought against Mr. James Shaw, dairyman, in the Airdrie Burgh Court, under the Food and Drugs Act, on 24th February, 1902; whether he is aware that Mr. Shaw, though acquitted, had to bear expenses in defending the action; and whether he will undertake to introduce legislation by which dairymen against whom such actions are brought may in future be relieved, if acquitted, of such expenses.
(Answered by Mr. A. Graham Murray.) It is always the case that where no provision is made in the special Act as to expenses, 1143 no expenses in summary proceedings can be given to, or against, a public prosecutor; and there is a decision of the Court of Session applying this general rule to prosecutions under the Act in question. As the Act was only passed in 1899, and no such provision was inserted, I am not prepared to propose to alter the law on the subject.