Crimes Act 1961
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Bill Digest: Thirty-Seventh Amendment of the Constitution
Bill Digest | Thirty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution-Blasphemy Bill 2018 1 Bill Digest Thirty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution (Repeal of offence of publication or utterance of blasphemous matter) Bill 2018 Bill No. 87 of 2018 Roni Buckley, Parliamentary Researcher (Law) Monday, 23 July 2018 Abstract The Thirty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution (Repeal of the offence of publication or utterance of blasphemous matter) Bill 2018 proposes the removal of the offence of blasphemy from the Constitution by way of referendum. Under the current framework the Constitution provides that the offence of blasphemy is punishable according to law. The Defamation Act 2009 defines the offence and provides that a person shall be liable upon conviction on indictment for a maximum fine of €25,000. This Digest sets out recent events and controversies relating to blasphemy; assesses its historical and legislative development as well as relevant case-law. Finally, the Digest provides a comparative analysis with European and international countries. Oireachtas Library & Research Service | Bill Digest 2 Contents Summary ........................................................................................................................................ 4 Proposed Amendment ................................................................................................................. 4 Definition of Blasphemy ............................................................................................................... 4 Reviews of the offence -
The Use of Similar Fact in Criminal Proceedings: an Updated Framework
Published on 11 December 2020 THE USE OF SIMILAR FACT IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS: AN UPDATED FRAMEWORK [2020] SAL Prac 25 CHEN Siyuan LLB (National University of Singapore); LLM (Harvard). CHANG Wen Yee LLB candidate (Singapore Management University). I. Introduction 1 When confronted with the question of whether to admit similar fact for criminal cases, courts in Singapore are often faced with balancing potentially competing norms in the form of evidential expediency and fairness to the accused. Specifically, although similar fact may help establish the ingredients of an offence, there exists a real risk that any resulting conviction will be based heavily on the past behaviour or disposition of the accused and this potential weakness in inferential reasoning through indirect proof will – to use the word in its broadest sense – prejudice the accused.1 2 The 1996 Court of Appeal decision in Tan Meng Jee v Public Prosecutor2 (“Tan Meng Jee”) tried to address these concerns in detail. But even after almost 25 years, this case remains the only modern apex court decision on how the similar fact rule is to be 1 Taking a step back, one must bear in mind too features of the Singapore criminal justice process. As a matter of criminal procedure, the Criminal Procedure Code (Cap 68, 2012 Rev Ed) is generally considered to tilt more in favour of crime control. As a matter of substantive criminal law, potentially severe sanctions could follow upon conviction. As a matter of standard of proof, a strict insistence on corroboration is generally not required, and any proving of a defence must be done on a balance of probabilities, which is a higher standard than casting reasonable doubt. -
New Zealand1
Abusive and Offensive Communications: the criminal law of New Zealand1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 This paper details the myriad criminal laws New Zealand has in place to deal with abusive and offensive communication. These range from old laws, such as blasphemy and incitement, to recent laws enacted specifically to deal with online communications. It will be apparent that, unfortunately, New Zealand’s criminal laws now support different approaches to online and offline speech. SPECIFIC LIABILITY FOR ONLINE COMMUNICATION: THE HARMFUL DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS ACT 2015 The statutory regime 1.2 The most recent government response to abusive and offensive speech is the Harmful Digital Communications Act, which was passed in 2015. The Act was a response to cyberbullying, and based on a report by the New Zealand Law Commission which found that one in ten New Zealand internet users have experienced harmful communications on the internet.2 It contains a criminal offence and a civil complaints regime administered by an approved agency, Netsafe. The Agency focusses on mediating the complaint and seeking voluntary take-down if appropriate, but has no powers to make orders. If the complaint cannot be resolved at this level, the complainant may take the matter to the District Court.3 Although the Act has both criminal and civil components, they are both described below in order to capture the comprehensiveness of the approach to online publication of harmful material. 1.3 The regime is based on a set of Digital Communication Principles, which are: Principle 1 A digital communication should not disclose sensitive personal facts about an individual. -
Secret Evidence
a JUSTICE report SECRET EVIDENCE Advancing access to justice, human rights and the rule of law Secret Evidence June 2009 For further information contact Eric Metcalfe, Director of Human Rights Policy email: [email protected] direct line: 020 7762 6415 JUSTICE, 59 Carter Lane, London EC4V 5AQ tel: 020 7329 5100 fax: 020 7329 5055 email: [email protected] website: www.justice.org.uk Contents Executive summary 5 Acknowledgements 6 Introduction 7 Key terms 9 - closed evidence and secret evidence 9 - closed hearings 9 - ex parte hearings 9 - hearings in camera 10 - undisclosed material 11 - departures from open evidence: anonymity, redactions and gisting 12 Part 1: The right to a fair hearing 14 The right to be heard 15 The right to confront one’s accuser 18 The right to an adversarial trial and equality of arms 23 The right to be informed of the accusation 27 The presumption of innocence 28 The right to counsel 30 Article 6 ECHR 31 - article 6(1) 31 - article 6(2) 33 - article 6(3) 33 Article 5(4) ECHR 34 Part 2: Secret evidence in civil cases 36 The Special Immigration Appeals Commission 37 - Chahal v United Kingdom 38 - The 1997 Act 40 - Proceedings pre-9/11 42 - Proceedings post-9/11 48 - Torture evidence 56 - Proceedings post-7/7 59 - MK v Secretary of State 69 - A and others v United Kingdom 73 Control order hearings 76 - Secretary of State v MB 78 - AE, AF and AN v Secretary of State 84 Parole board hearings 91 - Roberts v Parole Board 92 Other civil proceedings 101 - Administrative tribunals 102 - ASBO hearings 104 - Asset -
Evidence Act 1908
Evidence Act 1908 Public Act 1908 No 56 Date of assent 4 August 1908 This Act was repealed, as from 1 August 2007, by section 215 Evidence Act 2006 (2006 No 69). See clause 2(2) Evidence Act 2006 Commencement Order 2007 (SR 2007/190). Contents Page Title 5 1 Short Title, etc 5 2 Interpretation 5 Competency of witnesses 3 Witness interested, or convicted of offence 7 4 Evidence of party, or of wife, husband, or civil union 7 partner of party, in civil cases 5 Evidence of accused and spouse in criminal cases 8 5A Wife of person charged with certain offences to be 10 competent witness for prosecution [Repealed] Privilege of witnesses 6 Communications during marriage [Repealed] 11 7 Privilege in suits for adultery [Repealed] 11 8 Communications to clergyman and medical 11 men [Repealed] 8A Questions tending to establish a debt or civil liability 11 Impeaching credit of witnesses 9 How far witness may be discredited by the party producing 11 him 10 Proof of contradictory statements of witness 12 11 Cross-examinations as to previous statements in writing 12 12 Proof of previous conviction of witness 12 12A Proof of convictions by fingerprints 13 12B Corroboration of evidence of accomplice not required 14 12C Witnesses having some purpose of their own to serve 15 Protection of witnesses 13 Cross-examination as to credit 15 Note This Act is administered in the Ministry of Justice 1 Reprinted as at Evidence Act 1908 1 August 2007 13A Undercover Police officers 16 13B Pre-trial witness anonymity order 19 13C Witness anonymity order for purpose -
Treason Act 1708
Changes to legislation: There are currently no known outstanding effects for the Treason Act 1708. (See end of Document for details) Treason Act 1708 1708 CHAPTER 21 7 Ann An Act for improving the Union of the Two Kingdoms. Reasons for passing this Act. Whereas nothing can more conduce to the improving the Union of the Two Kingdom which by Her Majesties great Wisdom and Goodness hath been happily effected than that the Laws of both Parts of Great Britain should agree as near as may be especially those Laws which relate to High Treason and the Proceedings thereupon as to the Nature of the Crime the Method of Prosecution and Tryal and also the Forfeitures and Punishments for that Offence which are of the greatest Concern both to the Crown and to the Subjects to the end therefore that the said Union may be more effectually improved. Annotations: Modifications etc. (not altering text) C1 Short title given by Short Titles Act 1896 (c. 14) [I.] Crimes construed Treason, &c. in England, to be so construed in Scotland. From and after the First Day of July in the Year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and nine such Crimes and Offences which are High Treason or Misprision of High Treason within England shall be construed adjudged and taken to be High Treason and Misprision of High Treason within Scotland and that from thenceforth no Crimes or Offences shall be High Treason or Misprision of High Treason within Scotland but those that are High Treason or Misprision of High Treason in England II . -
English Radicalism and the Struggle for Reform
English Radicalism and the Struggle for Reform The Library of Sir Geoffrey Bindman, QC. Part I. BERNARD QUARITCH LTD MMXX BERNARD QUARITCH LTD 36 Bedford Row, London, WC1R 4JH tel.: +44 (0)20 7297 4888 fax: +44 (0)20 7297 4866 email: [email protected] / [email protected] web: www.quaritch.com Bankers: Barclays Bank PLC 1 Churchill Place London E14 5HP Sort code: 20-65-90 Account number: 10511722 Swift code: BUKBGB22 Sterling account: IBAN: GB71 BUKB 2065 9010 5117 22 Euro account: IBAN: GB03 BUKB 2065 9045 4470 11 U.S. Dollar account: IBAN: GB19 BUKB 2065 9063 9924 44 VAT number: GB 322 4543 31 Front cover: from item 106 (Gillray) Rear cover: from item 281 (Peterloo Massacre) Opposite: from item 276 (‘Martial’) List 2020/1 Introduction My father qualified in medicine at Durham University in 1926 and practised in Gateshead on Tyne for the next 43 years – excluding 6 years absence on war service from 1939 to 1945. From his student days he had been an avid book collector. He formed relationships with antiquarian booksellers throughout the north of England. His interests were eclectic but focused on English literature of the 17th and 18th centuries. Several of my father’s books have survived in the present collection. During childhood I paid little attention to his books but in later years I too became a collector. During the war I was evacuated to the Lake District and my school in Keswick incorporated Greta Hall, where Coleridge lived with Robert Southey and his family. So from an early age the Lake Poets were a significant part of my life and a focus of my book collecting. -
The Reform of the Crimes Act 1961
9 The reform of the Crimes Act 1961 Rt Hon G W R Palmer* This month I introduced a new Crimes Bill into Parliament. The Bill contains the first comprehensive revision of our Criminal Code for approximately thirty years. The last such revision took place in 1961 following a gestation period of research and consultation which began in the early 1950s. Some people have asked why such a revision is necessary, given that the Crimes Act 1961 was a considerable advance on its predecessor, the consolidation of 1908. The simple answer is that the changes which have occurred in our society in the last thirty years are probably at least equivalent in significance to those which occurred between 1900 and 1961. We all feel the pace of change mid know that its increase is inexorable. Change has meant, for example, that our Crimes Act does not deal adequately with new forms of offending. Because we have chosen to codify all matters that give rise to criminal liability in New Zealand, it is essential that our code be as up-to-date as possible. This means that existing offences need to be revised and new offences created at reasonable intervals. Within the last thirty years there has also been a consistent increase in serious and violent crime. This trend is not as appalling as it is perceived to be by the general public. However, it does require some sort of response. Governments have a duty to move with the times. That duty may in fact be a difficult or unpleasant one to perform. -
Evidence Act 2006
Reprint as at 1 October 2008 Evidence Act 2006 Public Act 2006 No 69 Date of assent 4 December 2006 Commencement see section 2 Contents Page 1 Title 11 2 Commencement 11 Part 1 Preliminary provisions General 3 Act to bind the Crown 11 4 Interpretation 11 5 Application 16 Purpose, principles, and matters of general application 6 Purpose 17 7 Fundamental principle that relevant evidence admissible 17 Note Changes authorised by section 17C of the Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989 have been made in this reprint. A general outline of these changes is set out in the notes at the end of this reprint, together with other explanatory material about this reprint. This Act is administered by the Ministry of Justice. 1 Reprinted as at Evidence Act 2006 1 October 2008 8 General exclusion 18 9 Admission by agreement 18 10 Interpretation of Act 18 11 Inherent and implied powers not affected 19 12 Evidential matters not provided for 19 12A Rules of common law relating to statements of 19 coconspirators, persons involved in joint criminal enterprises, and certain codefendants preserved 13 Establishment of relevance of document 20 14 Provisional admission of evidence 20 15 Evidence given to establish admissibility 20 Part 2 Admissibility rules, privilege, and confidentiality Subpart 1—Hearsay evidence 16 Interpretation 20 17 Hearsay rule 21 18 General admissibility of hearsay 22 19 Admissibility of hearsay statements contained in business 22 records 20 Admissibility in civil proceedings of hearsay statements 23 in documents related to applications, -
Criminal Law Introduction
SPECIAL ISSUE: CRIMINAL LAW INTRODUCTION This special issue of the UWA Law Review is a collection of articles by criminal law scholars from across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. Its subject matter covers assault occasioning bodily harm, infringement notices, consorting laws, sexual assault laws, elder law and more. The collection is the result of the fifth Criminal Law Workshop, an annual meeting of criminal law teacher-researchers held in February 2018 at the University of Western Australia. The workshop series, which began in 2014 at the University of Sydney Law School, is designed to provide scholars with an opportunity for peer exchange. In-progress research is discussed and critiqued in a supportive, collegiate setting. In 2018 we decided to develop the research into a collection of papers, which represent scholarship from law schools in Auckland, Christchurch, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. One of the benefits of the workshop series has been the opportunity for exchange between code and common law lawyers. Along with Aotearoa New Zealand, the criminal law in Western Australia, Queensland and Tasmania, and more recently the Northern Territory, the Australian Capital Territory and the Australian Commonwealth, is codified. New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria remain ‘common law jurisdictions’. There remains a distinction among criminal lawyers, between ‘code thinkers’ and ‘common law thinkers’. It can be difficult from a common law perspective, for example, to make sense of a system without mens rea, and the concept of ‘intention’, fundamental to criminal responsibility, means a quite different thing in each tradition. However, the differences between these kinds of jurisdiction is far from straightforward. -
After Serrano Ethics, Theology and the Law of Blasphemy
Law Text Culture Volume 5 Issue 1 Law & The Sacred Article 3 January 2000 After Serrano Ethics, Theology and the Law of Blasphemy M. Casey Catholic Diocese, Melbourne A. Fischer H. Ramsay Catholic Diocese, Melbourne Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/ltc Recommended Citation Casey, M.; Fischer, A.; and Ramsay, H., After Serrano Ethics, Theology and the Law of Blasphemy, Law Text Culture, 5, 2000. Available at:https://ro.uow.edu.au/ltc/vol5/iss1/3 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] After Serrano Ethics, Theology and the Law of Blasphemy Abstract In the latest academic apologia for the antics of bad boy photographer Andres Serrano, Damien Casey attempts to portray him as not only a great liberal artist, but as a great Christian theologian too. One suspects Serrano is laughing up his sleeve at the ease with which such 'postmodern' thinking can be grafted on to the support of his iconoclasm. Casey rehearses some of the standard liberal excuses -- though with no fresh argument -- and then settles down to some more novel points concerning theology, Scripture and society. We will give some treatment of his standard liberal case first, then turn ot Casey's more original contributions, and finally comment on the current state of the law regarding this issue. This journal article is available in Law Text Culture: https://ro.uow.edu.au/ltc/vol5/iss1/3 Law & The Sacred: After Serrano Ethics, Theology and the Law of Blasphemy Michael Casey, Anthony Fisher OP & Hayden Ramsay In the latest academic apologia for the antics of bad boy photographer Andres Serrano, Damien Casey attempts to portray him as not only a great liberal artist, but as a great Christian theologian too. -
1661-1700 (Pdf)
1 Scottish Books 1661-1700 (Aldis updated) 1661 1682 Academiæ Edinburgenæ gratulatio, ob serenissimi, augustissimiq; monarchæ Caroli II . Britanniarum, Galliæ & Hiberniæ regis, fidei defensoris, in solium paternum restitutionem, oblate illustrissimo dynastæ, D. Johanni Middiltonio, Middiltonii comiti, clarimontis… 4to. Edinburgh: G. Lithgow, 1661. Wing E165; ESTC R11311 [Voyager 3150808] NLS holdings: Gray.1033(1); UMI 315:01; UMI 428:14 (identified as Wing M1972) Other locations: E U Leighton(fragment) *1682.3 [Act of Committee of Estates, 13 Aug. 1650] West-kirk the 13. day of August, 1650. The Commission of the Generall Assembly considering that there may be just ground of stumbling from the Kings Majesties refusing to subscribe & emit the Declaration offered unto him by the Committee of Estates, and Commissioners of the Generall Assembly concerning his former carriage and resolutions for the future, in reference to the cause of God … . s.sh. Edinburgh: E. Tyler, 1661. Reprint of 1650 edition, Aldis 1395.6 and 1395.7; not recorded by ESTC [Voyager 3771044] NLS holdings: MS.14493, fol.1 Other locations: 1682.5 Act for raising ... 480,000 pound. fol. Edinburgh: E. Tyler, 1661. NLS holdings: Other locations: Private Owner 1683 [Act of Parliament, 1 Feb. 1661] Act of Parliament, against saying of mess [sic], Jesuits, Seminary and Mess [sic] priests, and trafficking papists. At Edinburgh, the first day of February, 1661. s.sh. Edinburgh: E. Tyler, 1661. Wing S1119; Steele 2200; ESTC R183918 [Voyager 2231141] NLS holdings: Ry.1.1.33(13); Mf.SP.133(21); UMI 2710:22 Other locations: Signet Library 1684 [Act of Parliament, 20 Feb.