Tagged: crime
The Recording Business
My post on audio recordings in Garda custody is about establishing the grounds for the making of adverse inferences at trial, not about the procedure for interrogation in Garda custody. Under Section 19A of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 (as inserted by Section 30 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007), it is open to a court to make an adverse inference (of guilt; what else?) arising from …the failure of an accused to mention… [“…any fact relied on in his […]
We are all Marxists (Groucho) now
“Continuous Professional Development” (CPD) is an idea with a banal element. It behooves everybody to stay on top of their job, and to express that in jargon is to suggest that the work of some people is beyond accountability; otherwise, why the need to nudge them to competence? Of course we know the work of some people is beyond accountability, but that is for another day and another subject. The Government’s new Bill on “Surveillance” is certainly a necessary topic […]
Accused “X”, may I introduce you to your solicitor?
So, the accused is in a position where i) he is not obliged to say anything; ii) his solicitor’s advice is secret (privileged); and iii) he is menaced with an adverse inference if he remains silent.
Planning Enforcement
Firstly, the Planning and Development Act 2000 places no express obligation on the prosecution to prove that the “development” is unauthorised. Development, whether of use or of works, is not unauthorised unless it post-dates 1st October 1964.
Mixing it, lawfully
He justifies this, it appears, by claiming to have been acting in defence of his secretary. The uncertainty lies in the issue as to why she needed defending.
No Apple for Teacher
We see it in the abolition of an outrageous assumption; that people of power may beat up other people.
The Dog Ate the Homework
That this should emerge twice in the one month, in the Supreme Court is a measure of two things; the frequency with which the Gardai prematurely dispose of evidence and the sclerosis of the criminal prosecution system that it should so stubbornly cling to the determination to prosecute in cases where the accused claims to be disadvantaged in making his/her defence.
The Parliamentary Draftsman (2)
Who will interpret the confused, inarticulate replies? (Some, at least, will be such).
The Parliamentary Draftsman
The people who draft legislation are unusual. The job is difficult and requires long training, experience and talent. Inevitably, mistakes are sometimes made.
Nullem Crimen Sine Lege
There was a time when the Law Society of Ireland discharged all its functions in the corner of a car park.