A copy of the Royal Commission Report is available below. You will need to download it and read the pdf file.
Royal Commission of Inquiry into Chamberlain Convictions, Report, Commonwealth Parliamentary Papers (1987), volume 15, paper 192
The legal rights outlined are particularly important in providing safeguards against abuses by governments and their agents. The fundamental rights, developed over hundreds of years, have been adopted in international treaties. Some of the rights along with the reasons for their existence are detailed to provide an understanding of their importance and fragility.
We are physiologically ‘designed’ to feel and respond to fear. Almost universally, we use fear in our interactions with others. However, it is also a tool for politicians to ensure the population remains complaint and accepts injustice.
Expert evidence plays a key role in the decisions of courts every day across the world. In some cases, experts provide knowledge and information integral to the outcome of the judicial decision. However, experts have not always played a role in legal decision making, and this article traces the history of expert evidence, the problems and solutions developed over the last few hundred years.
In response to instances of miscarriages of justice and a need for better post-conviction review mechanisms, the United Kingdom (in 1997),[i] Scotland (in 1999),[ii] Norway (in 2004)[iii] and New Zealand (in 2020)[iv] have established a Criminal Cases Review Commission. On…
Expert evidence is crucial to the outcome in many legal cases before the courts. The law surround the use of experts has been developing for more than 200 years. This article looks at the current law in Australia involving the use of expert opinion evidence.
Political prosecutions are commonplace in authoritarian jurisdictions but they seen more in democracies now too. Their existence is a major problem and represent a crime against democracy.