§
Lords Amendment: In page 11, line 3, leave out from "person" to the end of the Clause and insert:
other than a person who is guilty of a contravention of this Act in respect of the transaction, or who is liable to punishment by reason of his having aided, abetted, counselled or procured, such a contravention.
§ The Solicitor-GeneralI beg to move, "That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment."
As Clause 15 stands, it suggests that anyone who participates in a transaction at a price exceeding the permitted price commits an offence, merely by doing so with the knowledge that the price is too high. On the Committee stage this was another matter that we were invited to look into. This Amendment is the result. Suppose that there has been an active interference on the part of one of the parties which results in the other person infringing the law, that is a case of aiding and abetting, and should be dealt with; but we think it would not be right that, in some case where the buyer is forced to pay an overcharge in order to get the goods, he should be subject to penalties for having entered into what was an unauthorised transaction. That view, I think I am right in saying, was expressed at one stage of the Debate by the hon. Gentleman sitting opposite. The alternative we now propose leaves the position of the aider and abettor untouched, but prevents the person who has been forced into the transaction from incurring penalties.
§ Question put, and agreed to.