Criminal law – Obstruction of highway. The judge, in dismissing charges of obstruction of the highway against the respondents, had fallen into error in his approach to the assessment of proportionality and his overall assessment of proportionality had been wrong. Accordingly, the Divisional Court allowed the Director of Public Prosecution's appeal by way of case stated against the first four respondents, but dismissed it in respect of the fifth to eight respondents, as the application to state a case had been out of time, such that the judge had had no jurisdiction to state a case.