Law and order
Sir: Your legal correspondent, Mr Cline, in his interesting article on 2 May, envisages the possibility of demonstrators damaging cricket pitches during the forthcoming South African cricket tour, and says that the Malicious Damage Act does not cover land. On the contrary, your readers may be in- terested to know that unlawful and malicious damage to any real or personal property is an indictable offence punishable by imprison- ment for two years, and if committed be- tween 9 pm and 6 am is punishable by im- prisonment for five years (Malicious Damage Act, 1861, s.51). Further, wilful or malicious damage not exceeding £100 to any real or personal property is a summary offence punishable, if the damage exceeds £5. by imprisonment for three months or a fine of £100, and if the damage is £5 or less, by imprisonment for two months or a fine of £20; and in either case the court may order the payment of a further reasonable amount as compensation (Criminal Justice Admini- stration Act, 1914, s.14, as amended in 1964 and 1967). These provisions would cover cultivated grass (see Gay ford v Chouler,
1898) and also the wicket itself.
0. Hood Phalli's
Faculty of Law, University of Birmingham, Birmingham 15
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