Laws Of Evidence And Proof

Question 1

Woolmington Principle

Answer 1

The fundamental principle in criminal law is the presumption of innocence. The burden of proof lies clearly with the prosecution in relation to all of the elements of the offence.

Exceptions to this principle (where the burden of proof is placed on the defendant) is the defence of insanity.

Question 2

Beyond reasonable doubt definition

Answer 2

An honest and reasonable uncertainty left in your mind about the guilt of the defendant after you have given careful and impartial consideration to all of the evidence.

Where the defence bears the burden, it only needs to be proved on the balance of probabilities.

Question 3

What makes good evidence:

Answer 3

Facts that prove the charge
Facts in issue
Circumstantial evidence

Question 4

Admissibility

Answer 4

Evidence is admissible if it can be legally received by a court. Any evidence on which an individual juror might rely in reaching a conclusion as to guilt is admissible.
A court may judge whether evidence is admissible by relevance, reliability and unfairness.

Question 5

Relevance

Answer 5

– relevant evidence is admissible. Evidence that has a tendancy to prove or disprove anything that is of consequence to the determination of the proceeding. Irrelevant facts will always be inadmissible.

Question 6

Reliability

Answer 6

Reliability – Unreliability is not a general ground of inadmissibility, the act contains specific exceptions to this.

Question 7

Fairness

Answer 7

Fairness – Even though evidence is relevant it may be excluded if it would result in unfairness. Unfairness can cover a variety of situations and is a matter of discretion for the trial judge. It usually arises in two ways:
. Evidence may be excluded if it would result in some unfair prejudice in the proceeding.
. Evidence not prejudicial in itself in terms of the actual verdict may still be excluded where it has been obtained in circumstances that would make its admission against the defendant unfair. The most obvious example of this is where a defendants statement has been obtained by unfair or improper methods. The confession itself may well be impeccable evidence, but the way in which it was obtained may well lead to its exclusion under the fairness discretion.

Question 8

General exclusion provision:

Answer 8

General exclusion provision:
1) In any proceeding the judge must exclude evidence if its probative value is outweighed by the risk that the evidence will;
A) have an unfairly prejudicial effect on the proceeding or
b) needlessly prolong the proceeding
2) In determining whether the probative value of evidence is outweighed by the risk that the evidence will have an unfairly prejudicial effect on a criminal proceeding, the judge must take into account the right of the defendant to offer an effective defence.

Evidence will be admitted under section 8 if its probative value outweighs the risk of any unfairly prejudicial effect on the proceeding, or if it strong enough to justify a prolonging of the proceeding.

Question 9

Admission by agreement

Answer 9

Admission by agreement:
Section 9(1) of the evidence act 2006 allows for the admission of evidence, even if it not otherwise admissible, where the parties agree. The court in R v Hannigan highlighted that the judge retains control of this process and may decline to admit the evidence ven if all parties agree t its admission, or not allow its admission in the form agreed to by the parties.

Question 10

Section 14 - provisional admissibility

Answer 10

Provisional admissibility:
Section 14 of the evidence act provides that where a question arises concerning the admissibility of any evidence, the judge may admit the evidence, subject to further evidence being offered later which establishes its admissibility. If the other evidence required to establish admissibility is not forthcoming, the provisionally admitted evidence must be excluded from consideration.

Question 11

Section 15

Answer 11

Section 15 governs evidence given by a witness to prove the facts necessary for deciding whether some other evidence should be admitted in a proceeding. Such a hearing is commonly referred to as a ‘voir dire’, particularly where the jury is excluded from the courtroom for the duration of the admissibility hearing. These facts are sometimes referred to as ‘preliminary facts’. Section 15 applies to all witnesses not only defendants.

The evidence act allows evidence to prove anything that is of consequence to the determination of the proceeding.

Question 12

Evidence summary

Answer 12

The aim of the evidence act 2006 is to help secure the just determination of proceedings.
All facts in issue and facts relevant to the issue must be proved by evidence. The two exemptions are where judicial notice is taken of facts and when facts are formally admitted.
In deciding whether evidence is admissible, the courts have reference to certain principles of evidence law. These include; relevance, reliability and unfairness.
For facts to be received as evidence they must be both relevant and admissible. \
Relevant evidence is defined as any evidence that has a tendency to prove or disprove anything that is of consequence to the determination of the proceedings (s.7).
Section 8 sets out a general requirement for exclusion of evidence that Is otherwise relevant and not excluded, or rendered admissible by some specific provision of the act or any other act. The section 8 test involves balancing the probative value of the evidence against the risk that it will have an unfairly prejudicial effect on the proceeding (s.8(1)(a)). Or needlessly prolong the proceeding (s.8 (1)(b)).