Tuesday, March 19, 2024

The meaning of "and": Pulsifer v United States USSC 22-340

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When a statutory exception is followed by a list of conditions, a court may have to decide whether the list is conjunctive or disjunctive. T...
Sunday, March 17, 2024

Dealing with jury misconduct: Campbell v R (No 2) (Jamaica) [2024] UKPC 6

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Dealing with the risk that a jury was “poisoned” (so to speak) [1] ) by misbehaviour was the topic considered in Campbell v R (No 2) (Jamai...
Wednesday, March 13, 2024

The Australian common law of duress: The King v Anna Rowan (A Pseudonym) [2024] HCA 9

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Is it right in principle to require, for the defence of duress, that the threat be accompanied by a demand that a particular offence be comm...
Saturday, March 09, 2024

Common sense in assessments of the credibility and reliability of witnesses in judge-alone trials: R v Kruk, 2024 SCC 7

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In judge-alone trials, the judge must give reasons for the verdict. This obligation creates difficulties for the judge, especially around ad...
Friday, March 08, 2024

New offence or improved old offence? Xerri v The King [2024] HCA 5

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It is not unusual for legislation defining an offence to be changed, and a question may arise as to whether the change creates a new offence...
Saturday, March 02, 2024

How private is an IP address? R v Bykovets, 2024 SCC 6

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How private is an IP address? Is it like a fingerprint at the scene of a crime? Of itself it says nothing until matched with other informati...
Thursday, February 22, 2024

The finality of acquittals in jury trials: McElrath v Georgia 22-721 USSC

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Acquittals are final, even if they might be based on flawed reasoning: McElrath v Georgia 22-721 USSC (21 February 2024). [1] Authorities r...
Thursday, February 15, 2024

Agreement, knowledge and liability: statutory construction in R v Rohan (a pseudonym) [2024] HCA 3

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If you agree with someone to commit an offence, how much do you need to know? You don’t need to know that the proposed course of conduct is ...
Monday, February 12, 2024

Sovereignty and the common law

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In a recent opinion piece published by Stuff , Damien Grant has raised questions about parliamentary sovereignty and the common law.  This t...