Dr Manhattan Edit: For a more recent example of apparent bias, see Mogan Holdings Pty Ltd & Anor v Harrison [2011] VSCA 202.The Court of Appeal recounted this unique exchange [at 16]:Her Honour (to witness): ... You just said ‘I would’ve expected to see more acute changes had there been trauma’. Now, had there been …
Month: November 2009
New Road Rules start today
A reminder that the Road Safety Road Rules 2009 and Road Safety (Drivers) Regulations 2009 commence operation today, 9 November 2009. The commencement details are found in Government Gazette S290, 26 Aug 2009.When the Road Rules 1999 were introduced and the Road Safety (Traffic) Regulations 1988 repealed, the Supreme Court had the opportunity to rule not …
Legal liability of accompanying drivers
I had a query about my post, Licences and International Students. There, I suggested that the holder of a foreign licence (not being suspended or disqualified; accompanied by an English translation; complying with all other requirements, etc.) should not be considered a learner driver, and consequently would not be bound by the requirements under Reg …
Calling a witness for cross-examination
Edit: Since this post went up, the case of DPP v Nair [2009] ACTCA 17 has affirmed that, under Commonwealth law, no motive or reason for a witness to give untruthful evidence needs to be shown before leave under s 38 may be granted. The new Evidence Act will bring lots of changes to the …
Changing plea 2
I wrote in March about applications to change plea.The Court of Appeal considered this last week in R v Holden [2009] VSCA 254.Mr Holden was convicted of manslaughter after pleading guilty to that charge.He applied to the Court of Appeal to set aside his guilty plea, claiming he didn't make a free and informed choice …