Unit 1: Intro to Criminal Law

Question 1

Concepts:

Answer 1

Justice:
- due process
- The presumption of innocence; The right to silence; the burden of proof; evidential rules
Morality:
- Positive law vs natural law
Fairness:
- For whom?
- Personal autonomy vs public interest

Question 2

Principles:

Answer 2

• Presumption of innocence
• The right to silence
• The standard of proof and burden of proof

Question 3

Principles: Presumption of Innocence

Answer 3

A defendant does not have to prove their innocence, the burden of proof lies with the prosecution to demonstrate that the defendant is guilty

Question 4

Principles: The right to silence

Answer 4

No longer unqualified since the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994

Question 5

Principles: The standard of proof and burden of proof

Answer 5

Prosecutorial burden
Beyond all reasonable doubt;
- ‘you must be satisfied so that you are sure’
Folley [2013] EWCA Crim 396
Woolmington v DPP [1935] A.C 462

Question 6

Woolmington v DPP [1935] A.C 462

Answer 6

Woolmington v DPP [1935] A.C 462
Lord Sankey LC:
‘Throughout the web of the English criminal law one golden thread is always to be seen, that it is the duty of the prosecution to prove the prisoner’s guilt subject to…any statutory exception. If, at the end of and on the whole of the case, there is a reasonable doubt, created by the evidence given by either the prosecution or the prisoner, as to whether the prisoner killed the deceased with a malicious intention, the prosecution has not have made out the case and the prisoner is entitled to an acquittal.’ (p.481)

Question 7

Statutory interpretation:

Answer 7

The judiciary interpret legislation

Question 8

Statutory interpretation: e.g’s

Answer 8

S47 Offences Against the Person Act 1861
‘Whosoever shall be convicted upon an indictment of any assault occasioning actual bodily harm shall be liable…to imprisonment for not more than five years.’

Miller [1954] 2 QB 282
‘…any hurt or injury calculated to interfere with the health and comfort of the victim…’
T v DPP [2003] EWHC 266 (Admin) - the injury must be more than merely transient and trifling
DPP v Smith [2006] EWHC 94 (Admin) - the injury or harm does not need to cause physical pain or be permanent

Question 9

Precedent:

Answer 9

Stare decisis
Hierarchy of the courts
Binding & non-binding (persuasive)
Ratio decidendi & obiter dicta

Question 10

Precedent: e.g’s

Answer 10

Chan-Fook [1994] 2 All ER 552
‘An injury can be caused to someone by injuring their health; an assault may have the consequence of inflicting the victim with disease or causing the victim to become ill. The injury may be internal and may not be accompanied by any external injury.’ (Hobhouse L.J., C of A, *151)
Ireland & Burstow [1998] A.C. 147
HL approved the reasoning from Chan-Fook in order to support that psychiatric injury could amount to ABH
Golding [2014] EWCA Crim 889
Genital herpes