CRIMINAL APPEAL

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 40, 17 February 1933, Page 12

CRIMINAL APPEAL

A SPECIAL TRIBUNAL

BARRISTERS' VIEWS SOUGHT

(By Telegraph.) (Special ,to "The Evening Post.") BUNEDIN, This Day. A tribunal to be known as the Court of Criminal Appeal was expected to bo set up when the Judicature j Amendment Act was recently introduced giving authority for a special sitting of the Court of Appeal to hear tho appeal in the Tarrant murder case. In response to a request by the "New Zealand Law Journal," twelve barristers "whose work and experience' entitlo respect for their expressions of opinion on tho need for a Court of Criminal Appeal" gave-their views. It is remarkable that the Dunedin views expressed were in opposition to the opinions of the other ten barristers, who stressed the advantages of such tribunal being created. Mr. F. B. Adams, the Crown Prosecutor, said: "Under the existing conditions there are provisions apparently adequate for appeal to the Court of Appeal on questions of law or against any sentence imposed by the Supreme Court, and as far as I know the present system has worked satisfactorily. If, as suggested, there is a proposal on foot to establish a Court of Criminal Appeal, the probabilities arc-that any change contemplatdd will be of an administrative or procedural nature. If, on tho other hand, it is proposed to enlarge the right of appeal, this -would seem to.mean that appeals would be allowed to some extent at least on questions of fact which had been properly left to the jury. This would be a considerable departure from recognised principles, and cases in which it would be usefully or properly permitted would bo few and can already be dealt with under section 447 of the Crimes Act, 1908, which authorises the GovernorGeneral in Council to direct a new trial in cases where doubt is entertained as to whether accused ought to have been convicted."