After the strong support given to the work of the Judicial College by the Supreme Court, it was only a matter of time before an appeal was brought which relied on a departure from the wording of the Victorian Criminal Charge Book as its ground.In R v Carter [2009] VSCA 272, the trial judge instructed …
Month: November 2009
Conflicts of interest
Victoria Legal Aid is the largest 'firm' of solicitors in the state. Though this must carry a number of advantages, one of the downsides is the almost inevitable occurrence of client conflict. So endemic has the problem become, it's become standard practice to have an alternative practitioner present or on call at sittings of the …
Selective answering
Section 89 of the Evidence Act 2008 is sure to generate some fresh discussion about whether selective answering can be a valid source of inferences about an accused's consciousness of guilt.The prohibition on the selective answering of an accused in response to police questioning being used to infer a consciousness of guilt - or at least …
Theatrical performances
"All the world's a stage,And all the men and women merely players;They have their exits and their entrances;And one man in his time plays many parts ..."Jaques (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII, William Shakespeare)Everyone agrees that good advocacy is a performance. It logically follows that some of the skills and training of …
Drinking & driving – no honest and reasonable mistake
Offences under s 49(1)(f) of the Road Safety Act 1986 are absolute liability offences. The assertion of a claim of honest and reasonable mistake has no effect against such a charge: Skase v Holmes (Unreported, Supreme Court of Victoria, 11 October 1995, Vincent J). In that case, Vincent J aligned drink-driving with the offences of …
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