Monday, June 15, 2009

At what price?

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Market value includes black market value for the purposes of ascertaining the amount of a forfeiture order under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2...
Friday, June 12, 2009

Sounds and unsoundness

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A policeman thought he could hear a confessional statement on a recording of a telephone call made by the accused to emergency services. Exp...
Thursday, June 11, 2009

Strasbourg reigns

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Obedience to Strasbourg's Grand Chamber has led the House of Lords to correct itself: Secretary of State for the Home Department v AF [2...
Monday, June 08, 2009

A bit about David Bain’s retrial

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The right tribunal Last month was the fourteenth anniversary of the start of David Bain's first trial for murdering his parents, two s...
Friday, June 05, 2009

Delay: the kinds of prejudice

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Prejudice arising from delay was the Supreme Court of Canada's reason for restoring the stay of proceedings that had been entered by the...
Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Disobedient dissenters!

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Again, final appellate judges refuse to obey the law and repeat their dissenting views in subsequent cases: R v Craig [2009] SCC 23, R v Ou...
Saturday, May 30, 2009

Economy overwhelms the need for a fair trial

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Here is another illustration of a divergence of opinion between appellate judges over whether to apply the proviso: R v Van [2009] SCC 22 (...
Friday, May 29, 2009

Is a buyer party to the sale?

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Abuelhawa v United States [2009] USSC No 08-192, 26 May 2009 deals with whether a buyer of a drug is a party to its sale in a statutory con...
Thursday, May 28, 2009

Breach of prosecutor’s duties

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Breach of the prosecutor's duties made the trial unfair in Stewart v R [2009] NZSC 53 (28 May 2009). That meant that the proviso could ...

Unstilted voluntariness

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"When a defendant is not in custody, he is in control, and need only shut his door or walk away to avoid police badgering. And noninte...
Monday, May 25, 2009

Short in trumps

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There are times when it's a struggle to say anything interesting about the final resolution of a disputed point of law. "How sour s...
Thursday, May 21, 2009

A night mission

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Judicial decisions must be based on adequate grounds, and a decision to stay proceedings is no different. In R v Edwards [2009] HCA 20 (21 ...
Friday, May 15, 2009

Remedies for undue delay

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The remedy for undue delay before trial was the subject of Williams v R [2009] NZSC 41. As would be expected, the Court applied dicta in At...
Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Knowledge of circumstances

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Knowledge of circumstances was required as a matter of statutory interpretation in Flores-Figueroa v United States [2009] USSC No 08-108, 4...
Monday, May 04, 2009

Contradicting the snitch

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If improperly obtained evidence is inadmissible in chief, is it necessarily inadmissible in cross-examination? In Kansas v Ventris [2009] U...
Sunday, May 03, 2009

Oops!

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Firing a gun during the commission of a crime can increase the minimum sentence. What if the firing was accidental – does the minimum apply?...
Saturday, May 02, 2009

Criminal proceeds recovery and proof of offending

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Even as we in New Zealand eagerly await 1 December 2009, when the new Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009 will commence, a question about ...
Friday, May 01, 2009

Injustice, oppression, flight and extradition

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Injustice and oppression as grounds for resisting extradition were considered in Gomes v Trinidad and Tobago [2009] UKHL 21 (29 April 2009)...
Thursday, April 30, 2009

“the kingdom would come to confusion”

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The interpretation of legislation can, on rare occasions, be assisted by reference to information about the creation of that legislation. Ev...

Cut-throat issues

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In Jones v R [2009] HCA 17 (29 April 2009) some interesting issues were mentioned, but they did not need to be decided. They concern the us...
Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Search incidental to arrest

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An interesting aspect of Arizona v Gant [2009] USSC, No 07-542, (21 April 2009) is the omission of any reference to Herring v United States...