Judith, has a second-hand shop, in her window she has a crossbow for sale with a price tag of £10.
Issue
Has Judith committed an offence under section 1 by displaying the crossbow?
Possible resolution of the issue and the rules of statutory interpretation
As there is no sale ie either buying or selling, has Judith offered the crossbow
for sale by displaying it in her shop window together with a price tag?
Of use in this respect is the case of Fisher v Bell. In this case the Divisional
Court interpreted a similar phrase “offer for sale” in another
statute the Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act 1959, as being used in
a technical sense from the law of Contract. A display of goods in a shop
window is not usually an offer for sale and therefore no offence was committed.
It could be argued that a similar phrase in a different Act should be interpreted
in the same way and therefore Judith has committed no offence.