Britain: An official handbook > 1977

9°
BRITAIN 1977: AN OFFICIAL HANDBOOK
court and the law of evidence (which is concerned with the way facts may be
proved and what facts may not be proved) is rigorously applied. If evidence is
admitted in contravention of the law, a resultant conviction is liable to be
quashed on appeal.
During the trial the defendant has the right to hear and subsequently to cross-
examine (normally through his lawyer) all the witnesses for the prosecution; to
call his own witnesses who, if they will not attend the trial of their own free will,
may be legally compelled to attend; and to address the court either in person or
through his lawyer—the defence having the right to the last speech at the trial.
Moreover, the defendant cannot himself be questioned unless he consents to be
sworn as a witness in his own defence. When he does testify, he may only be
cross-examined about his character or other conduct in very exceptional
circumstances and generally, the prosecution may not introduce evidence of
such matters. Although confessions made in the course of previous judicial
proceedings are admissible as evidence if they have been made upon oath, no
confessions made in any other circumstances are admitted unless it can be
proved that they were made voluntarily.
In criminal trials by jury the judge determines questions of law, sums up the
evidence for the benefit of the jury, and discharges the accused or passes
sentence according to the verdict of the jury; but the jury alone decides whether,
on the basis of the evidence presented at the trial, the defendant is guilty or not
guilty. Verdicts need not necessarily be unanimous; in certain circumstances
the jury may bring in a majority verdict provided that, in the normal jury of 12
people, there are not more than two dissentients.
If the jury returns a verdict of ‘not guilty’, the prosecution has no right of
appeal against the verdict and the defendant cannot be tried again for the same
offence. From a verdict of ‘guilty’ there is a right of appeal on the part of the
defendant to the appropriate court.
At summary trials in Scotland the accused is asked to plead to the charge at
the first calling of the case and, if he pleads guilty, the court may dispose of the
case. Where the plea is ‘not guilty’, the court may proceed to trial at once or it
may appoint a later date.
In Scottish trials on indictment, the first ‘pleading’ proceedings take place in
the sheriff court, when the accused person is called upon to plead guilty or not
guilty. If he pleads not guilty, the case is continued to the second ‘trial’ pro¬
ceedings in the appropriate court. If he pleads guilty, and the case is to
be dealt with in the sheriff court, the sheriff may dispose of it at once. If it is a
High Court case, it is continued to the second proceedings in the Court for
disposal.
The trial proceedings are held at least nine days after the pleading proceed¬
ings, either before the sheriff or the High Court, with a jury of 15. Evidence is
led (without opening speeches) and there are closing speeches for the prosecu¬
tion and for the defence, followed by the judge’s charge to the jury. The jury
may return a verdict of ‘not guilty’ or ‘not proven’, both of which result in
acquittal, or they may find the accused ‘guilty’, in which case the court proceeds
to deliver sentence. The verdict may be by a simple majority. With a few
minor exceptions, no person may be convicted without the evidence of at
least two witnesses, or corroboration of one witness by facts and circumstances
which clearly implicate the accused in the crime.
PENAL SYSTEMS The chief aims of the penal systems of the United Kingdom are to deter the
potential law-breaker and to reform the convicted offender. The element of