R V Davidson
''R v Davidson'', also known (particularly among medical practitioners) as the Menhennitt ruling,. was a significant ruling delivered in the Supreme Court of Victoria on 26 May 1969. It concerned the legality of abortion in the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The ruling was not the end of the case, but rather answered certain question of law, questions of law about the admissibility of evidence, so as to allow the trial to proceed. In the ruling, Justice Clifford Menhennitt, Menhennitt ruled that abortion might be lawful if necessary to protect the physical or mental health of the woman, provided that the danger involved in the abortion did not outweigh the danger which the abortion was designed to prevent. It was the first ruling on the legality of abortion in any part of Australia. The principles put forward by Justice Menhennitt have since been drawn upon in other parts of the country. Background to the ruling Charles ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Supreme Court Of Victoria
The Supreme Court of Victoria is the highest court in the Australian state of Victoria. Founded in 1852, it is a superior court of common law and equity, with unlimited and inherent jurisdiction within the state. The Supreme Court comprises two divisions: the Trial Division, which oversees its original jurisdiction, and the Court of Appeal, which deals with its appellate jurisdiction, and is frequently referred to as a court in its own right. Although the Supreme Court is theoretically vested with unlimited jurisdiction, it generally only hears, at trial, criminal cases in instances of murder, manslaughter or treason, and civil cases where the statement of claim is in excess of the Magistrates' Court limit of $100,000. The court hears appeals from the County Court, as well as limited appeals from the Magistrates' Court. Decisions of the Supreme Court are appealable to the High Court of Australia. The building itself is on the Victorian Heritage Register. Jurisdiction ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Indictable Offence
In many common law jurisdictions (e.g. England and Wales, Ireland, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore), an indictable offence is an offence which can only be tried on an indictment after a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is a '' prima facie'' case to answer or by a grand jury (in contrast to a summary offence). A similar concept in the United States is known as a felony, which for federal crimes, also requires an indictment. In Scotland, which is a hybrid common law jurisdiction, the procurator fiscal will commence solemn proceedings for serious crimes to be prosecuted on indictment before a jury. Australia In Australia, an indictable offence is more serious than a summary offence, and one where the defendant has the right to trial by jury. They include crimes such as murder, rape, and threatening or endangering life. The system is underpinned by various state and territory acts and the '' Commonwealth Crimes Act 1914'' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Child Destruction
Child destruction is the name of a statutory offence in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, Hong Kong and in some parts of Australia. Child destruction is the crime of killing an unborn but viable foetus; that is, a child "capable of being born alive", before it has "a separate existence". People have been convicted of the offence for injuring a heavily pregnant woman in the abdomen, such that her foetus dies; for killing a foetus during childbirth; or for performing a late-term abortion. The purpose of the offence is to criminalise the killing of a child during its birth, because this is neither abortion nor homicide for the purposes of the criminal law. It can also be used to prosecute late abortions.Card, Richard (editor). Card, Cross and Jones: Criminal Law. Twelfth Edition. Butterworths. 1992. . ¶¶11.82–83. During the second reading of the Preservation of Infant Life Bill 1928 to 1929, Lord Atkin said: England and Wales Statute In England and Wales, the o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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All England Law Reports
The All England Law Reports (abbreviated in citations to All ER) are a long-running series of law reports covering cases from the court system in England and Wales. Established in 1936, the All England Law Reports are a commercially produced alternative to the "official" reports produced by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting (under the title The Law Reports). The reports encompass judgments with headnotes and catchwords from the House of Lords, both divisions of the Court of Appeal An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ... and all divisions of the High Court. The series contains cross-references and hypertext links to both other ''All England'' cases and legislation cited in the Report. The All England reports are published by LexisNexis Butterworths. A second ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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R V Bourne
R, or r, is the eighteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ar'' (pronounced ), plural ''ars''. The letter is the eighth most common letter in English and the fourth-most common consonant, after , , and . Name The name of the letter in Latin was (), following the pattern of other letters representing continuants, such as , , , , and . This name is preserved in French and many other languages. In Middle English, the name of the letter changed from to , following a pattern exhibited in many other words such as ''farm'' (compare French ) and ''star'' (compare German ). In Hiberno-English, the letter is called or , somewhat similar to ''oar'', ''ore'', ''orr''. The letter R is sometimes referred to as the 'canine letter', often rendered in English as the dog's letter. This Latin term referred to the Latin that was trilled to sound l ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jury
A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence, make Question of fact, findings of fact, and render an impartiality, impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a sentence (law), penalty or Judgment (law), judgment. Most trial juries are "petit juries", and consist of up to 15 people. A larger jury known as a grand jury has been used to investigate potential crimes and render indictments against suspects, and consists of between 16 and 23 jurors. The jury system developed in England during the Middle Ages and is a hallmark of the English common law system. Juries are commonly used in countries whose legal systems derive from the British Empire, such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. They are not used in most other countries, whose legal systems are based upon European Civil law (legal system), civil law or Islamic sharia, sharia law, although their use has been spreading. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Trial Judge
A trial court or court of first instance is a court having original jurisdiction, in which trials take place. Appeals from the decisions of trial courts are usually heard by higher courts with the power of appellate review (appellate courts). Most appellate courts do not have the authority to hear testimony or take evidence, but instead rule solely on matters of law. In the trial court, evidence and testimony are admitted under the rules of evidence established by applicable procedural law and determinations called ''findings of fact'' are made based on the evidence. The court, presided over by one or more judges, makes ''findings of law'' based upon the applicable law. In most common law jurisdictions, the trial court often sits with a jury and one judge; in such jury trials, the jury acts as trier of fact. In some cases, the judge or judges act as triers of both fact and law, by either statute, custom, or agreement of the parties; this is referred to as a bench trial. In t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rex V Bourne
''Rex v Bourne'', ''The King v Aleck Bourne'', or the Bourne Judgment, was a British lists of landmark court decisions, landmark court case in 1938 relating to an induced abortion, abortion performed by obstetric surgeon Aleck Bourne on a 14-year-old girl who had become pregnant as a result of being gang rape, raped. The judge directed the jury towards the concept that situations arise where abortion might protect the health of the mother. Bourne was found not guilty of performing the procedure unlawfully and the judgment set the precedence for several subsequent abortion cases and the Abortion Act 1967 (UK). Seeking a termination of her pregnancy in May 1938, the girl came to the attention of Bourne, who had been awaiting such a case to test in the courts. He admitted her to St Mary's Hospital, London, St Mary's Hospital in June, informed authorities of his intention to perform the operation, carried it out, and then asked to be arrested. Charged under section 58 of the Offenc ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Assize Court
The assizes (), or courts of assize, were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes exercised both civil and criminal jurisdiction, though most of their work was on the criminal side. The assizes heard the most serious cases, most notably those subject to capital punishment or, later, life imprisonment. Other serious cases were dealt with by the quarter sessions (local county courts held four times per year), while the more minor offences were dealt with summarily by justices of the peace in petty sessions (also known as magistrates' courts). The word ''assize'' refers to the sittings or sessions (Old French ''assises'') of the judges, known as "justices of assize", who were judges who travelled across the seven circuits of England and Wales on commissions of " oyer and terminer", setting up court and summoning juries ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Abortion Act 1967
The Abortion Act 1967 (c. 87) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that legalised abortion in Great Britain on certain grounds by registered practitioners, and regulated the tax-paid provision of such medical practices through the National Health Service (NHS). The Act made it lawful to have an abortion up to the 28th week if two registered medical practitioners believed in good faith that the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk to the life of the pregnant woman, or harm her physical or mental health, or that of any of her family members. It did not extend to Northern Ireland until the implementation of the Abortion (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2020. Under this legislation, a registered medical professional could terminate a pregnancy where the pregnancy had not exceeded 12 weeks in length, there was a risk to physical or mental health within 24 weeks of pregnancy, or, at any time during pregnancy, where the pregnant woman's life was at immediate risk, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The UK includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and most of List of islands of the United Kingdom, the smaller islands within the British Isles, covering . Northern Ireland shares Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, a land border with the Republic of Ireland; otherwise, the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea and the Irish Sea. It maintains sovereignty over the British Overseas Territories, which are located across various oceans and seas globally. The UK had an estimated population of over 68.2 million people in 2023. The capital and largest city of both England and the UK is London. The cities o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Indictment
An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offense is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use that concept often use that of an indictable offence, which is an offence that requires an indictment. Australia Section 80 of the Constitution of Australia provides that "the trial on indictment of any offence against any law of the Commonwealth shall be by jury". The High Court of Australia has consistently used a narrow interpretation of this clause, allowing the Parliament of Australia to define which offences proceed on indictment rather than conferring a universal right to a jury trial. Section 4G of the '' Crimes Act 1914'' provides that "offences against a law of the Commonwealth punishable by imprisonment for a period exceeding 12 months are indictable offences, unless the contrary intention appears". Canada A direct indictment is one in which the case is sent dir ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |