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 …
Tag: UK
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 …
Geographical jurisdiction always important!
One of my old air force buddies sent me this little gem, highlighting not just the importance of getting the elements of an offence right, but also the geographical jurisdiction.Dopey policeman tries to arrest shopkeeper in Wales under Australian lawPolice chiefs in South Wales were forced to apologise after an over-zealous policeman threatened to arrest …
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Australian Crime Commission v Stoddart [2011] HCA 47: No spousal privilege at common law
There is no common law privilege against incriminating your spouse.There never has been, it seems. Centuries ago in Britain a wife was neither competent or compellable to give evidence against her husband due to the legal fiction (derived from the Bible) that man and wife were the one flesh. Even by the time of the …
Swearing at the police can still be a crime
For the last week or so the UK media has made a lot of noise about a recent judgment where the Queen's Bench upheld an appeal by Denzel Harvey against his conviction for using threatening, abusive or insulting words within the hearing of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress, contrary to …
Continue reading Swearing at the police can still be a crime