“No” to prosecution submissions on sentencing range.In 2008, the Victorian Court of Appeal decided in R v MacNeil-Brown (2008) 20 VR 677 (discussed here) that when asked, prosecutors were required to submit what the prosecution considered was an available range of sentences to impose on an offender, or if the prosecution thought the court would otherwise fall into error.Even then, …
Tag: high court
Monis v The Queen; Droudis v The Queen [2013] HCA 4: offensive post is not protected speech
You may not write to the parent of an Australian serviceman, who lost his life in the service of his country, and compare him to a pig and dirty animal. You may not call him a a murderer of civilians, and Adolph Hitler not inferior to him in moral merit. You may not refer to …
Reserve judgment
The Courts Legislation Amendment (Reserve Judicial Officers) Bill 2012 will abolish the offices of acting judges and acting magistrates and create the offices of reserve judge and reserve magistrate. The bill was introduced to Parliament on Wednesday.The Introductory Print is here and the Explanatory Memorandum here.On my reading of it, these reforms are unlikely to …
Committals to go?
The issue of abolishing committals is back in the spotlight again. The proposal seems to have come around every few years for the past two decades, like Batman films.The Australian Institute of Criminology ran a conference on committals back in 1990. It's interesting to read the papers, because the arguments for and against appear similar …
The Queen v Getachew [2012] HCA 10: belief in consent not in issue
This case was handed down by the High Court yesterday. It's a sequel to the Victorian Court of Appeal's decision in Getachew v R [2011] VSCA 164 last year. The judgment will be studied carefully by lawyers involved in penetrative sex trials. It's a (rare) unanimous judgment by French CJ, Hayne, Crennan, Keiffel and Bell …
Continue reading The Queen v Getachew [2012] HCA 10: belief in consent not in issue