A useful shortcut for your desktop is the On-line Case Law page of the La Trobe University Law Library. It's quick, up-to-date and free.The page is available to anyone. It lists most common abbreviations used in reported and unreported legal citations. (The link above will take you to a table of the main ones; a …
Month: June 2009
Virtual justice
As the Magistrates' Court of Victoria unveils its new virtual tour (following in the footsteps of Tasmania and South Australia), the United Kingdom is experimenting with another kind of virtual court experience.The UK government is expanding its pilot virtual court to a number of police stations around London. The scheme has attracted lots of criticism. …
Disputed confessions to police
When the Evidence Act 2008 commences operation, s 33 will permit police officers to simply read their statements, rather than having to embark upon a psittacine memory test as sometimes happens now under the common law.This will be something of a boon to the police in prosecution of summary charges. Typically, the police write in …
Conditional appearances
The Criminal Procedure Act 2009 will maintain the 12-month-limitation period for commencing summary criminal proceedings. The current limitation period is at s 26(4) of the Magistrates' Court Act 1989. (Criminal Procedure Act 2009 s 7 will replace that later this year.) (Colloquially, this is often called the statute of limitations. But pedantically, the statute of …
Compellability under the new Evidence Act
From 1 November 2009, witnesses in a broader range of relationships may be excused from giving evidence in criminal proceedings.Right now s 400 of the Crimes Act 1958 provides that only the wife, husband, mother, father or child of an accused person can ask a court to excuse them from giving evidence for the prosecution.Some courts …