F1.12 – The Meaning of Relevance Flashcards
According to Article 1 of Stephen’s ‘Digest of the Law of Evidence’ (12th Edn, 1936), what is the classic formulation of ‘relevance’?
‘Any two facts to which it is applied are so related to each other that according to the common course of events one either taken by itself or in connection with other facts proves or renders probably the past, present or future existence or non-existence of the other’.
In Nethercott [2001] EWCA Crim 2535, which fact was relevant to D1’s defence that he had acted under duress as a result of threats by his co-accused D2?
Evidence of the fact that D2 had subsequently attacked D1 with a knife.
This is because it made it more likely that D2, at the time of the offence, had genuinely feared for his safety.
According to Lord Simon of Glaisdale (in DPP v Kilbourne [1973] AC 729, at p. 756.), what makes evidence relevant?
Evidence is relevant if it is logically probative or disprobative of some matter which requires proof.
I do not pause to analyse what is involved in ‘logical probativeness’, except to note that the term does not of itself express the element of experience which is so significant of its operation in law, and possibly elsewhere.
It is sufficient to say, even at the risk of etymological tautology, that relevant (i.e., logically probative or disprobative) evidence is evidence which makes the matter which requires proof more or less probable. (DPP v Kilbourne [1973] AC 729, at p. 756.)
The question of relevance is typically a matter of degree. How is this to be determined in the most part?
By common sense and experience (Randall [2003] UKHL 69, [2004] 1 WLR 56, per Lord Steyn at [20]).
In sexual cases
(a) what will the relevance of evidence relating to the complainants social media accounts depend upon?
(b) when will it most likely be relevant?
(a) The precise circumstances of the case.
(b) Where the complainant and the accused were in a relationship or knew each other.
This is because, in cases where there was no contact between the complainant and the accused before or after tje a;;eged crome, the fact that messages had been deleted is unlikely to be relevant, in the absence of any basis for suggesting that they contained material of assistance to the defence (McPartland [2019] EWCA Crim 1782, [2020] 1 Cr App R (S) 51 (383)).
