DAWSON v. PERERA.

Additional P. C, Colombo, 3,866.

Appeal where accused had pleaded guilty-Plea of guilty- Criminal Procedure Code, ss. 220,229, and 403-Judgment-Criminal Procedure Code, s. 372.

Where an accused appeared to summons, and the Police Magistrate explained to him the particulars of the offence, and then recorded as follows :-" He pleads guilty. I accept the admission of the accused. " He is fined Rs. 5"-

Held, that this was irregular, the proper course under section 220 of the Criminal Procedure Code being to record the admission of an accused party, as nearly as possible, in the words used by him.

In the event of a conviction in the Police Court, the requirements of section 372 of the Criminal Procedure Code, as to specifying the offence of which, and the section of the law under which, the accused is convicted, must be conformed to.

THE accused was charged with continuing a kraal in the  Panadure lake, known as Panadure Eliya, so as to impede the convenient navigation thereof, in breach of sub-section 12 of section 94 of Ordinance No. 10 of 1861. He appeared to summons, and the Police Magistrate then made the following record:- " Particulars of the offence explained to the accused. He pleads "guilty. I accept the admission of the accused. He is fined " Rs. 5."

The accused appealed.

Pereira, for accused appellant. The proceedings are irregular.

 [BONSER, C. J. The accused had no right to appeal as he had  pleaded guilty.] A plea of guilty cannot now be recorded in the  Police Court. Section 403 of the Criminal Procedure Code, no doubt, provides that when an accused person has pleaded guilty, and been convicted by a District or Police Court on such plea, there shall be no appeal, but so far as Police Courts are concerned, the plea here referred to is the plea under section 229. That section has, however, been repealed, and has not been re-enacted by Ordi­nance No. 22 of 1890; so that a plea of guilty is not a plea now admissible in summary trials before Police Courts. In a case like this, the only section under which it is now open to a Police Magis­trate to take steps is section 220 ( Ordinance No. 22 of 1890), but under that section when an accused person admits the commission of an offence, such admission must be recorded, as nearly as possible, in the words used by him, and then the Police Magis­trate might convict him. There is no provision in the Code that against such a conviction there should be no appeal. In support, then, of the appeal, it is submitted that there is no record of what the accused said when questioned under section 229, nor of an