Unit 7 – Jury Trial Procedure

Vocabulary flashcards covering key legal concepts, statutory provisions under CJPO 1994, and judicial directions in Crown Court jury trial procedure.

Summing-up

The trial judge's concluding address to the jury, consisting of two parts: a direction on the relevant law and a summary reviewing the evidence presented.

Legal Advice Privilege

A category of legal professional privilege protecting confidential communications between a client and legal adviser whose dominant purpose is obtaining or giving legal advice, applying regardless of whether litigation is contemplated.

Litigation Privilege

A category of legal professional privilege protecting communications between a client or legal adviser and third parties where the sole or dominant purpose is advising or acting in relation to actual or contemplated litigation.

Waiver of Privilege

The loss of the right to claim legal privilege, occurring when voluntary disclosure over privileged material results in fairness requiring disclosure of other communications relating to the same subject matter.

Lucas Direction

A warning given to the jury when the prosecution relies on a defendant's lie as evidence of guilt, directing that the jury must be sure the defendant actually lied and that the lie was not told for an innocent reason.

Burge Situations

Four specific circumstances where a Lucas direction is typically required: reliance on an alibi, judicial suggestion of lies corroborating other evidence, prosecution reliance on a lie about a separate issue, or a real danger of jury misuse.

Right to Silence

A defendant's traditional common-law protection against self-incrimination, safeguarded under ECHR Article 6, but qualified by statutory adverse inferences under CJPO 1994.

Section 34 CJPO 1994

A statutory provision allowing an adverse inference to be drawn when a defendant fails to mention a fact when questioned under caution or charged that they could reasonably have been expected to mention and later rely on in their defence.

Murray v UK Safeguard

The legal safeguard establishing that adverse inferences under Section 34 cannot be drawn if a defendant detained at an authorised place was denied the opportunity to consult a solicitor before questioning.

Three-Stage Test (T v DPP [2007])

A judicial framework for Section 34 assessing: (1) what fact was relied on at trial but omitted in interview, (2) the defendant's explanation for the omission, and (3) whether an unreasonable explanation properly infers guilt.

Section 35 CJPO 1994

A statutory provision allowing adverse inferences when a defendant chooses not to give evidence at trial or, having been sworn, refuses without good cause to answer questions.

Section 35(1) Exceptions

Statutory circumstances where Section 35 inferences cannot be drawn: when the defendant's guilt is not in issue, or where their physical or mental condition makes it undesirable to give evidence.

Section 36 CJPO 1994

A provision allowing adverse inferences when an arrested defendant fails or refuses to account for objects, substances, or marks found on them, their clothing, footwear, possessions, or at the place of arrest.

Section 37 CJPO 1994

A provision allowing adverse inferences when an arrested defendant fails or refuses to account for their presence at a crime scene at or about the time of the alleged offence.

Section 38 CJPO 1994

A statutory restriction specifying that a defendant cannot have a case to answer established, be convicted, or have proceedings transferred solely on the basis of adverse inferences drawn from silence.