Revisiting the Precedential Status of Crown Court Decisions

The binding authority of substantive decisions made by the Crown Court in the exercise of its criminal jurisdiction is often assumed to be negligible. In 2013, the Court of Appeal appeared to confirm the correctness of that assumption. Yet there was little in the way of explanation or case law that...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: LAU, Kwan Ho
Format: text
Language:English
Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/3188
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/5146/viewcontent/0022018320954177__1_.pdf
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Institution: Singapore Management University
Language: English
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Summary:The binding authority of substantive decisions made by the Crown Court in the exercise of its criminal jurisdiction is often assumed to be negligible. In 2013, the Court of Appeal appeared to confirm the correctness of that assumption. Yet there was little in the way of explanation or case law that was cited in support by the court. This article suggests that a re-evaluation of the place and treatment of such decisions within the doctrine of precedent is overdue, and considers that they should be recognised to have some binding effect if there is able to be established a reasonably satisfactory process to facilitate their systematic and public dissemination, whether electronic or otherwise.