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Provisions as to malicious damage to property.
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14.—(1) If any person wilfully or maliciously commits any damage to any real or personal property whatsoever, either of a public or private nature, and the amount of the damage does not, in the opinion of the court, exceed twenty pounds, he shall be liable on summary conviction—
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(a) if the amount of the damage, in the opinion of the court, exceeds five pounds, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds; and
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(b) if the amount of the damage is, in the opinion of the court, five pounds or less, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two months or to a fine not exceeding five pounds;
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and in either case to the payment of such further amount as appears to the court reasonable compensation for the damage so committed which last-mentioned amount shall be paid to the party aggrieved:
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Provided that this provision shall not apply where the alleged offender acted under a fair and reasonable supposition that he had a right to do the act complained of.
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24 & 25 Vict. c. 97.
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(2) So much of section fifty-one of the Malicious Damage Act, 1861, as limits the cases which may be dealt with under that section to cases where the damage, injury or spoil exceeds five pounds, shall be repealed but a court of summary jurisdiction shall not commit any person for trial for an offence under that section unless it is of opinion that the damage, injury or spoil exceeds five pounds.
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(3) Except so far as otherwise provided in the last foregoing subsection, nothing in this section shall be construed as preventing a court of summary jurisdiction from committing a person for trial for an offence notwithstanding that the offence is an offence which the court has power to deal with summarily under this section.
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