And not so long ago,
so long ago, the draft Complex commercial
Crimes Bill 1987, the White Bill, required an accused
indicted for a complex commercial crime to "serve on the
prosecutor and to deliver to the court
a written
outline of the defence case in response to each of the
principal facts in the prosecution case statement,
specifying the principal facts upon which the defence case
is based". Such a requirement would have forced the
accused to tell the prosecutor what his case was even
before the trial commenced, and it therefore threatened
another cardinal principle of criminal justice, namely,
that a person is presumed innocent until the contrary is
proved, with a corollary that accused has the right to
remain silent throughout.
an
stet
Not
unnaturally,
therefore,
both the
Bar
stet
stat
Committee and the Council of the Law Society of Hong Kong
took strong objections on both occasions. And it is to
the credit of my colleagues of this Council as well asset
the successive Attorney Generalf that both threats are now
removed. First, the former Attorney General Mr. Michael
Thomas, Q.C. backed down from his proposal
from his proposal that complex
stet commercial crimes be tried by
judge and two commercial
judge and jury. and cop
adjudicators instead of by
recently the present Attorney General acceded to the
submission of the Bar and Law Society
should not be required to serve and
outline of the defence case.
that the accused
deliver a written
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