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Fine in lieu of damages and imprisonment in addition to damages.
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57.—(1) Where a person is convicted of an offence under the next preceding section of this Act and it is proved to the satisfaction of the Court by whom such person is so convicted that injury (other than an excluded injury as defined in this section) was caused to person or property by the negligent driving on the occasion on which such offence was committed of the vehicle in relation to which such offence was committed and such Court is of opinion that some person then present in or represented before such Court would be entitled to recover in a civil action against the person so convicted damages in respect of such injury, such Court may, if it thinks fit so to do and the person so present or represented so consents, inflict on the person so convicted, in addition to any other punishment authorised by the said next preceding section, a fine not exceeding the damages which in the opinion of such Court the person so present or represented would be entitled so to recover against the person so convicted.
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(2) Where a fine is imposed under the foregoing sub-section of this section on a convicted person the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—
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(a) the Court imposing such fine may sentence such convicted person to any term of imprisonment, not exceeding six months, in default of payment of such fine within such time not being less than one fortnight as such Court shall appoint;
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(b) the amount of such fine shall be paid to the person on account of whose right to recover damages such fine was imposed and, if there is more than one such person, in such proportions as the Court shall direct;
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(c) the payment of such fine by such convicted person shall be a good defence to any civil action brought by any person to whom such fine or any part thereof was so paid in respect of the injury on account of which such fine was so inflicted;
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(d) without prejudice to any right of appeal by any other person, the person or any of the persons to whom such fine is made payable shall have a right of appeal (limited to one or more of the following matters, that is to say, the amount of such fine and the person to whom and the proportions in which it is payable) to the Judge of the Circuit Court within whose Circuit is situate the District or any part of the District of of the Justice by whom such fine was inflicted, and the decision of such Judge on such appeal shall be final.
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(3) Where damages are recovered in a civil action against a person who was convicted of an offence under the next preceding section of this Act in respect of injury to person or property caused by the negligent driving on the occasion on which such offence was committed of the mechanically propelled vehicle in relation to which such offence was committed, the Court before whom such damages are so recovered may if the damages are not paid within fourteen days or such longer period as the Court may determine (unless the person by whom such damages were so recovered is one of the excluded persons as defined in this section) order that the person against whom such damages were so recovered be forthwith taken into custody and be imprisoned for whichever of the following periods shall be the shorter, that is to say, until the expiration of six months from such taking into custody or until such person pays the amount of such damages to the person by whom they were so recovered and lodges in Court by way of security for the payment of the costs recovered by such last-mentioned person in such action such sum (if any) as the Court shall fix.
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(4) For the purposes of this section the following injuries shall be excluded injuries, that is to say:—
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(a) any injury sustained on the occasion on which the relevant offence was committed by property which was on that occasion in or being put into or taken out of the vehicle in relation to which such offence was committed, and
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(b) if the said vehicle was not a public service vehicle, any personal injury sustained on the said occasion by any person who was on that occasion in or entering or alighting from the said vehicle.
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(5) In this section references to personal injury or injury to the person include injury causing death.
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