Tuesday, May 31, 2011

New complications for old

›
Mahomed v R [2011] NZSC 52 (19 May 2011) shows that the law of similar fact evidence is still contentious. It has recently been reformed, b...
Thursday, May 26, 2011

Non-disclosure and trial fairness

›
An appellate court often has to ask whether a trial was fair. Statutory requirements for allowing conviction appeals usually include "a...
Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Writing for judges

›
Do not even consider living a day longer without reading these interviews with the Justices of the United States Supreme Court: The Scribes...
Thursday, May 19, 2011

Avoiding the paperwork

›
The United States Supreme Court has handed police what may seem to be a legal way of searching homes without the need to obtain warrants: Ke...

Counter-intuitive evidence: should neutrality be sought?

›
Correction of wrong intuitions is important to prevent jury bias. Commonly held assumptions about the way a complainant should behave may un...
Sunday, May 15, 2011

Compensation for wrongful convictions

›
When should a person whose conviction has been quashed receive compensation? This question of entitlement is different from the question of ...
Wednesday, May 11, 2011

To put or not to put?

›
I suppose the most general lesson that can be learnt from the fact-specific decision of the High Court of Australia in Braysich v R [2011] H...
Friday, May 06, 2011

Offensive or disorderly behaviour

›
"Offensive or disorderly" behaviour in terms of s 4(1)(a) of the Summary Offences Act 1981 are "two sides of the same coin...
Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Sorry, I can’t think of a heading for this one ...

›
Pfennig v R (1995) 182 CLR 461; [1995] HCA 7 is rather restrictive on the admissibility of similar fact evidence. (See my discussion of th...
Monday, April 25, 2011

Book Review: Justice for Hedgehogs by Ronald Dworkin

›
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

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