Victoria is the last jurisdiction where an offender can appeal a decision of the Magistrates' Court to a court of intermediate appeal — here, the County Court — and the appeal is conducted as a rehearing (aka de novo appeal) rather than in the strict sense of an appeal which is a consideration of the …
Continue reading Repeal of de novo appeals deferred to 2025?
A significant debate seems to be occurring in the UK at the moment, though from 12,000 miles away it's hard to quite know what it's all really about or how it might finish, and whether it might have any effect here in Australia.But, if the concerns are legitimate — and there are enough informed participants …
Some of the provisions of the Justice Legislation Amendment (Family Violence and Other Matters) Act 2012 we blogged about here came in today. These include the amendments that extend the scope of mandatory counselling orders, and increase the potential duration of an FVSN.The part of section 31 of the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 that …
In Dupas v The Queen [2012] VSCA 328 the Victorian Court of Appeal, sitting as a bank of five judges, declined to follow the precedent of R v Shamouil (2006) 66 NSWLR 228, a decision of the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal. In Shamouil, a mid-trial Crown appeal on the exclusion of key prosecution evidence, …
I mentioned back in October that Brendan Murphy QC was appointed as the newly-created public interest monitor.Last week the Victorian government appointed the head of its new IBAC, Stephen O'Bryan SC, and the Victorian Inspector, Robin Brett QC, who will oversee the IBAC.One recent opinion article in The Age cast doubt on the likely effectiveness …
Continue reading Anti-corruption bodies set to start 1 Jan 2013?