Saturday, April 22, 2023

Statutory delay of parole eligibility: Morgan v Ministry of Justice (Northern Ireland) [2023] UKSC 14

›
The life of a criminal barrister has several sources of irritation. One is the difficulty of getting clients to see the marvelous subtlety o...
Friday, April 14, 2023

Decisions on unproven facts: R (on the application of Pearce) v Parole Board [2023] UKSC 13

›
In a criminal trial, facts in issue need to be proved to the relevant standard. For example, the elements of the offence charged must be pro...
Saturday, March 25, 2023

Admitting improperly obtained evidence in Canada: R v McColman, 2023 SCC 8

›
In  R v McColman ,  2023 SCC 8   the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously delivered a clear explanation of the way the admissibility of evide...
Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Avoiding unnecessary complexity: Miller v R (Bahamas) [2023] UKPC 10

›
Explaining the meaning of the verb “to intend” led the legislature of the Bahamas into a complex mess of ideas in s 12 of its Penal Code . C...
Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Interveners and discussion of extraterritoriality: R v McGregor, 2023 SCC 4

›
There has been a good deal of discussion among Canadian academics over the extent to which “international” law applies in Canada. Criticisms...
Saturday, February 04, 2023

Credibility, demeanour, disclosure: deference and inconsequence: Cox v R [2023] UKPC 4

›
The deference of an appeal court to demeanour-based assessments of a witness’s credibility at trial is illustrated in Cox v R (Turks and Ca...
Tuesday, January 31, 2023

Hypothetical facts demonstrating the invalidity of laws: R v Hills, 2023 SCC 2

›
Courts in some legal systems can declare parliamentary legislation invalid. In at least some others courts may make a declaration that legis...
Saturday, December 17, 2022

Appropriate recognition of mitigating factors in sentencing for serious offending: Philip v R [2022] NZSC 149

›
Sometimes, the person being sentenced has changed, through efforts at rehabilitation and new family connections, into a very different perso...
Monday, December 12, 2022

Has the voluntariness of confessions requirement become too complex? Beaver v R, 2022 SCC 54

›
When the highest court splits 5-4 on basic issues of evidence law, one has to ask whether something is fundamentally wrong with the way the ...