What will be the strength of NSW decisions on their Evidence Act 1995 (which is not identical with our new Act) in Victorian courts? Will those cases be binding or merely persuasive?It's impossible to argue that they won't, at the least, be highly persuasive. There's no point re-inventing the wheel. The decisions of other jurisdictions …
Tag: commentary
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 …
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 …
Continue reading Drinking & driving – no honest and reasonable mistake
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 …
Continue reading Drinking & driving – no honest and reasonable mistake
Google is coming …
Google announced on its homeblog last week that it's getting into the law business in a big way.Is this good news? We don't know. In the short-term, Google moving into the neighbourhood will probably free up access to US law for lawyers and non-lawyers alike, as happened in other countries thanks to free access movement …