12.
provision
to
The Deputy Judge applied Canadian case law on the equivalent provision contained in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which was
the effect that any reverse onus which had the effect of permitting or requiring a conviction in spite of a reasonable doubt as to the existence of guilt of the accused violates the presumption of innocence and could only be saved if the government could demonstrate that the limitation had a rational basis, caused minimal impact to the right or freedom in question proportionate to the underlying policy objective. He ruled that the statutory presumptions mentioned in paragraph 11 above failed to pass the test.
and was
13.
On 28 August 1991, acting on the application of the AG,
Mr Justice Ryan reserved similar questions of law in R.V. Sin Yau Ming to the Court of Appeal. The Court of finished its five-day hearing on 17 September and is expected to hand down a land-mark decision in about two
weeks' time.
Appeal
Besides dealing with the question of presumptions at issue, it is expected that the Court will observations on general principles interpretation and status of the BOR,
also make
concerning
some
the
including:
(a)
(b)
for
to what extent should authorities of other
jurisdictions (e.g. principles arising from
European Court
Human Rights cases, jurisprudence of the Human Rights Committee and
decisions of national courts of other countries
with BORS, in particular, Canadian cases under
their Charter) be taken on board?
what approach should the courts take in judicial review of legislation?
Restricand