Blogger and barrister Stephen Warne (see failure to call witnesses) writes The Australian Professional Liability Blog. It's a wealth of posts both entertaining and informative.His blog brought to our attention the remarkable man Brian William Shaw. I don't dare say anything further about Mr Shaw for fear I'll be added to the long and distinguished …
Month: April 2009
Good fences make good neighbours
Edit: For a recent example of an incident blown out of all of its original proportion (there have been many, but they rarely make the authorised reports) see the injunctive proceedings of Nadanic v Fotopoulos [2009] VSC 554.This familiar phrase, which is often misunderstood, was first coined by Robert Frost in his poem Mending Wall. …
Kettling human rights
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about public nuisance. I guess your experience is similar to mine: we're seeing more common law offences in summary proceedings in the wake of the amendments to permit their summary determination.The recent G20 summit in London highlights some of the powers provided by the common law — and …
Criminal Procedure Act commentary available online
The Judicial College of Victoria continues to set a gold standard in producing resources for judicial officers, and graciously making them available to the public.It has just released, in the last week or so, the Victorian Criminal Proceedings Manual.So far, there are only several chapters available, but the College intends to have complete commentary for …
Continue reading Criminal Procedure Act commentary available online
Honest and reasonable mistake
An accused person should be acquitted if when they allegedly offended they honestly and reasonably believed in a state of facts that — if true — would have made their acts innocent: Proudman v Dayman (1941) 67 CLR 536.The requirement that the mistake be both honest and reasonable can make life hard for the accused. …