Monday, June 30, 2008

Counsel misconduct: unfair or merely improper?

›
When does it matter that counsel conducts a case improperly? In Huggins v The State (Trinidad and Tobago) [2008] UKPC 30 (9 June 2008) pros...
Friday, June 27, 2008

More hearsay ...

›
In this season of contemplation of hearsay, the Supreme Court of Canada chips in with R v Blackman [2008] SCC 37 (26 June 2008). This conce...

The customer appreciation party

›
Notable about Smith v R (Jamaica) [2008] UKPC (23 June 2008), aside from a sardonic and picturesque narrative of the facts (involving the f...

Hearsay and the US Constitution

›
Giles v California [2008] USSC No 07-6053 (25 June 2008) illustrates a tension between the Constitution and the law of evidence in Californ...
Monday, June 23, 2008

Refugees who might be criminals

›
It is of some comfort to learn that information gained from applicants for refugee status may be passed to authorities concerned with extrad...

Difficult people

›
Is the right to conduct one’s own defence without representation by counsel essential to the fairness of a trial? No: the fairness of a tr...
Friday, June 20, 2008

A recanting eyewitness

›
R v Devine [2008] SCC 36 (19 June 2008), routine in the sense that it does not decide new law, is a case that highlights the common law appr...
Thursday, June 19, 2008

No right to crime

›
There are times when, although a case has passed routinely through the stages of plea of guilty and the imposition of a lenient sentence, co...

Creeping emasculation

›
“ … the creeping emasculation of the common law principle must be not only halted but reversed. It is the integrity of the judicial process ...
Monday, June 16, 2008

Easy sentencing

›
When does a sentencing judge’s determination of facts amount to depriving the offender of the right to trial by jury? In convicting an accus...
Friday, June 13, 2008

"I didn't do it, but if I did ..."

›
CTM v R [2008] HCA 25 (11 June 2008) is another illustration of one of the irritating things about multi-judge cases. The joint decision ...

The travelling writ

›
An appreciation of the pioneering impact of Boumediene v Bush [2008] USSC No 06-1195 (12 June 2008) can be obtained from the closing remark...
Thursday, June 12, 2008

Lioness or Alsatian?

›
Does the standard of proof of a fact change according to the seriousness of its consequences? The common law recognises only two standards o...
Sunday, June 08, 2008

Book Review: Scalia and Garner, “Making your case” (2008)

›
Following a suggestion from my online book retailer’s computer, I bought “Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges” by Antonin Scalia...
Friday, June 06, 2008

The taint of impropriety

›
When does official impropriety cease to taint the subsequent obtaining of evidence? In particular, when does an improperly obtained statemen...
Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Deference?

›
Should the idea that appellate courts owe deference to lower courts in some areas apply to sentencing? I think not, but the Supreme Court of...
Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Laundering: proceeds and purpose

›
Another exercise in statutory interpretation involving the proceeds of crime and money laundering (I have noted the three House of Lords dec...
Sunday, June 01, 2008

The basics

›
Instructions given by judges to juries on how to approach issues of credibility in the context of the burden and standard of proof are often...
Tuesday, May 27, 2008

The limits of comity

›
In Canada (Justice) v Khadr [2008] SCC 28 (23 May 2008) s 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was applied extra-territorially....
Thursday, May 22, 2008

Preventing statutory unfairness

›
It may sometimes be unjust for the courts to wait for the legislature to extend the law to fully achieve its purpose. A stay of proceedings ...