An accused who, at the time of the alleged offence possessed an honest and reasonable positive belief in a state of facts which, if true, would have rendered their acts innocent, is entitled to an acquittal: Proudman v Dayman (1941) 67 CLR 536.After the majority decision in CTM v The Queen [2008] HCA 25, it …
Month: April 2009
Guest bloggers
If you read bylines closely, you might have seen the article on tracker dogs was by a different author: I invited Dr Manhattan to be a guest blogger.I have no delusions of grandeur about holding a monopoly on ideas or material worth sharing. If you would like to contribute or share something on the blog, …
Can a tracker dog give evidence?
Edit: Perhaps the answer to this question lies in disclosure - how would the sniffer dog make their statement? This article from the Daily Mail might shed some light on that.My opinion was sought on this question several years ago. “Of course not,” I replied without hesitation. “Even if it could remember the oath, how …
Finding judicial consideration of legislation — Part 1
I think the most frequent research query we all have is, "Are there any cases on this statutory provision?"In this series of posts, I cover several different ways of searching for cases that consider statutory provisions.This week, I explain how to use Lexis Nexis AU.This is electronically similar to looking through Bourke's Criminal Law Victoria, …
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Cannabis-induced psychosis isn't mental impairment
Edit: See also DPP v Kao [2009] VSCA 273, where the Court of Appeal express their doubts [at 42] as to whether the mitigating principles in Verdins' case have any application to a psychosis resulting from the self-administration of drugs by an experienced user.In Acar v The Queen [2012] VSCA 8 the Court of Appeal …
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