Criminal Law Survival Kit- Australia- NSW

(or, I know There's a Case About that Somewhere)

handcuffs

This is a site in progress.

The purpose of this site is to be a reference for working lawyers and students in the field of criminal law in New South Wales, Australia, about recent cases in the areas of criminal law and evidence, and to assist in public discussion and education about important issues which have practical importance for many people.

This website is written by John Stratton SC. I was a Public Defender for 16 years. I am now back at the private Bar.

The inspiration of the site was the fact that although criminal lawyers in Australia are pretty well served for primary materials (statutes and cases) there is very little by way of analysis on the Internet. Many of the Australian cases I have referred to can be found at Austlii.

Although I have tried to keep this site as up to date as possible, obviously anyone using it should rely on their own enquiries. In other words, no-one involved with the site has legal liability for damages for any decisions you may decide to make based on material on this web site.

The text of the Criminal Law Survival Kit is in two large documents, one on Crime and one on Evidence. At this stage I want to keep it that way to make searching easier. If you are having trouble searching either part, remember to make sure that the document has finished downloading onto your computer before you search.

Hopefully most of the abbreviations should be obvious but the reference to 'PD' is the Public Defender's Recent Cases published in New South Wales Australia. Most of these summaries are now available at the Public Defenders' Short Notes.

I would be very interested in any comments, criticisms, questions, and suggestions about the site. At the moment I would be especially in any suggestions for the Precedents section, and the 'Guide to Circuit Work'. Please contact me with any comments or criticisms of the site, or any questions generally, at JohnStratton@bigpond.com