Correct on the date of publication - 2 February 2026
Question:
Some statutes make liable to arrest any person "found committing" an offence. What is the extent of the phrase "found committing"?
Answer:
It is pertinent to record that PACE, under which police officers effect most arrests, is couched in terms of "in the act of committing". It is submitted that there is no distinction between the two terms - "found committing" and "in the act of committing".
In interpreting legislation, ordinary English words have to be given their ordinary everyday meanings. In this regard, "found committing" must be construed as "caught in the act". Unquestionably, powers of arrest which are exercisable when a person is "found committing" are confined to circumstances where the person sees the offence being committed, (Horley v Rogers (1860)), Ledwith v Roberts (1937) and Stevenson v Aubrook (1941)).
The only occasion when an arrest may be effected on the basis of the suspect being "found committing," but where he is no longer in the act of committing the offence and away from the scene, is in hot or fresh pursuit of the perpetrator where the arresting officer witnessed the incident giving rise to the arrest and there was an unbroken chain of events starting with the witnessing of the offence by the officer and culminating in the arrest of the offender throughout which sight of the offender was not lost.
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