The end of the jury trial as we know it?
The Secretary of State for Justice recently confirmed that the government is considering whether to introduce primary legislation to suspend jury trials for offences triable either way as a way...
Remote courts – a view from home and abroad (Part 1)
The coronavirus pandemic has led to a significant change in how courts conduct their business, both here and abroad. This post considers the position in respect of the use of...
Thomas More’s voices
Sir Thomas More (1478-1535): Henry VIII’s Chancellor, Erasmus’ intellectual sparring partner, Tyndale’s trenchant critic, the author of the dreamy Utopia (1516), canonised by Pope Pius XI and declared the patron...
Weekly Digest: 8 June 2020
This week's edition considers one judgment of the Supreme Court and two of the High Court. In Serafin v Malkiewicz the Supreme Court considered whether a judge’s interventions during the cross-examination of an...
After Elgizouli: what does the judgment mean for mutual legal assistance?
In Elgizouli v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] UKSC 10, a seven-Justice Supreme Court held that the provision of material by way of mutual legal assistance to...
Dateline 2120: Will everyone be not guilty by reason of diminished responsibility?
What is left of guilt if science can explain a defendant’s actions? We may be a long way yet from understanding all human behaviour, but recent developments in the law...
Weekly Digest: 25 May 2020
This week's edition considers one judgment of the Supreme Court and three of the High Court. In R v Adams the Supreme Court considered whether the Secretary of State had to personally...
Overseas Production Orders – A New Tool to Obtain Foreign Electronic Evidence
Introduction For years, prosecutors and defenders have acted in the confident knowledge that obtaining certain types of important electronic evidence from overseas in time for use at trial has been...
Applications to dismiss – what’s the charge?
On 28 February 2020, an Old Bailey jury acquitted Roger Jenkins, Tom Kalaris and Richard Boath of offences of conspiracy to commit fraud during a period when they were senior...
Weekly Digest: 4 May 2020
This week’s edition considers one judgment of the Supreme Court, four of the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division), and two of the Divisional Court. In AM (Zimbabwe) v Secretary of State...