Human Rights, Burden of Proof, Retrospectivity and Precedent in the House of Lords

Extract

R. v. Lambert [2001] UKHL 37, [2001] 3 W.L.R. 206 and R. v. Kansal (No. 2) [2001] UKHL 62, [2001] 3 W.L.R. 1562 are important decisions of the House of Lords in the field of human rights and criminal justice. Lambert is primarily concerned with a question as to the retrospective effect of the Human Rights Act 1998 in criminal proceedings, and with the question whether a reverse onus provision in section 28 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 is compatible with the presumption of innocence in Article 6(2) of the European Convention on Human Rights. Kansal is primarily concerned with the former question. A majority of the House in Kansal decided that the decision of the majority of the House in Lambert on the issue of retrospectivity was wrong, but nevertheless should be followed.