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was the Sanitary Inspector for the Parish of St. Pancras; and she gave notice
to the lady who was the head of the school, that she desired to inspect, and
was refused admission to the school for the purpose of inspecting. Then it
became necessary for her to have recourse to Section 115, and to go before a
Magistrate; and going before a Magistrate, it was her duty to satisfy him, by
Information on oath, that there was reasonable ground for such entry ; that
is to say, the entry which she desired to make. The object was, I suppose, to
see whether there was, under Section 10, a nuisance liable to be dealt with
summarily under the Act, or to see whether all the taps and drains, and so
forth were in good order under Section 40, whichever it was she was bound to
supply to the Justice, or to show to him, that there was reasonable ground for
her application for such entry, and that was to be on Information on oath.
I have read the Information. It is quite true that I thought it stopped at
the end of the first page, because I thought that the notice was a notice which
had been given afterwards, and was merely a copy of the notice ; but on
looking through it, and going to the end of the first notice, I find there is
another notice given. It seems to me that there is absolutely no ground
whatever, whether reasonable or not, stated by her, upon which she could ask
the Magistrate for leave to enter. No ground is stated by her. She says
again "I wanted to enter, and I then and there applied" (this is to Mrs. Sophie
Bryant, the Head Mistress of the School) "for permission to enter the school
premises for the purpose of examining as to the existence of any nuisance
therein."
Now that throws us back to the question: Is that a reasonable ground?
The reasonable ground must be a ground with some reason for it. "Why do
you want to go in ?" the Magistrate has a right to ask; and the answer to
that is, as far as it is given on this Information. "I have no more right than
that which was given to me by the Statute, and it is enough for me to swear
that I wish to go in, because the Statute gives me power to go in." That in
my judgment is not a reasonable ground, or such a reasonable ground as was
contemplated by section 115, sub-section 3, namely, a reasonable ground which
she is to give to the Magistrate to satisfy him before he makes the Order
which is asked for.
Under these circumstances, I think the Magistrate was perfectly justified in
his conclusion, which was the only proper conclusion ho could come to, that
there was no evidence upon which he could act. No evidence of any reasonable
ground was afforded to him, and therefore he did the only thing which
in my judgment he ought to have done, namely, refused the right to enter.
Mr. Justice Channell: I am of the same opinion. I think the case
entirely turns on the construction of section 115, sub-section 3 of this Act of
Parliament; and for the purposes of my Judgment, I assume that a right of
entry did in fact exist, both under section 10 and under section 40, I assume
that it existed. Therefore a right is given, and the entry is in fact refused
by the people at the school. Then we come to see what provision is made
by the Legislature as to enforcing that right which they have given, and
the provision is that "where a Sanitary Authority have, by virtue of any
enactment, a right to enter"—it only applies where there is the right in
fact—" and entry is refused, then the following provisions shall apply, if a