Monday, April 25, 2011

Book Review: Justice for Hedgehogs by Ronald Dworkin

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Even lawyers who are not interested in ethics and morals should be fascinated by the brilliant book Justice for Hedgehogs (2011) by Ronald ...
Friday, April 08, 2011

Interpretation of unfettered powers

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The granting by the legislature of unfettered powers on a court does not destroy all lawful restraint. In Lacey v Attorney-General of Queen...
Thursday, April 07, 2011

Dangerous hypotheticals

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One of the common judicial rear-protecting stratagems is to reason in the form "even if I'm wrong, I'm right." That is, ...
Thursday, March 31, 2011

Abuse of process, stay of proceedings, and integrity

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The inherent power of a court to stay criminal proceedings on grounds of abuse of process is a discretionary matter, not to be fettered by r...

Disobedient fact-finders

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For an interesting article on the adverse effects of a rule (as opposed to a discretion) excluding improperly obtained evidence, and the way...
Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Using relevance to prevent unfairness

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Today's decision of the High Court of Australia in Stubley v Western Australia [2011] HCA 7 is noteworthy on three points. The amazi...
Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Sentencing the reformed offender

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The theme of maximum flexibility for a judge in fixing a sentence that fits both the crime and the offender, recently discussed here in rel...
Monday, March 07, 2011

Confronting imaginary emergencies

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Michigan v Bryant , USSC No 109-150, 28 February 2011, continues the line of cases which purports to bring the reliability exception to the ...
Saturday, March 05, 2011

Aiding or standing by?

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Aiding an offence requires a positive act of assistance in its commission. This is not new law, but it is usefully illustrated in Robinson v...
Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Thinking for the jury

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One of the requirements for a fair trial is the correct application of the law. When a jury has doubts about what the relevant law is, it ma...
Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Securing trial fairness

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The primacy of a defendant's absolute right to a fair trial is preserved in aspects of Canadian evidence law concerning the withholding ...
Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Second thoughts

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A witness's privilege against self-incrimination Cases of alleged domestic violence are among those where a complainant may wish to den...