Report No. 43
7.50. Comparable English provision.-
This provision corresponds to section 1(2) of the (English) Official Secrets Act, 1911, as amended in 1920. The latter, in its turn, appears to follow the language of a parallel provision in the (English) Prevention of Crimes Act, 1870. That Act, provides with reference to the offence of vagrancy1, that "in proving the intent to commit a felony (now an arrestable offence), it shall not be necessary to show that the person suspected was guilty of any particular act or acts tending to show his purpose or intent and he may be convicted if from the circumstances of the case, and from his known character as proved to the justice of the peace or court before whom or which he is brought, it appears to such justice or court that his intent was to commit an arrestable offence; and the provisions of the said section, as amended by this section shall be in force in Scotland and Ireland."
1. Section 15, Prevention of Crimes Act, 1870.