How does the Constitution influence Evidence
1) S39: Courts must promote the spirit, purport and objects of the Bill of Rights
when interpreting legislation and developing the common law.
2) S2: The Constitution is the supreme law- Any law or conduct which is
inconsistent with the Constitution is invalid.
3) S8(3): The Court must develop the common law to give effect to the Bill of
Rights.
4) S35: Rights to arrested, accused and detained- Some of these rights pre-existed but are now given ‘supreme’ status under the constitution.
Case blanket police docket privilege
1) the court held that owing to a right to information and to a fair trial [s25(3) of the interim constitution], a blanker police docket privilege is unconstitutional. The court
introduced a flexible test which provides access to a docket to the accused if required for a fair trial
S218(2) of CPA: Pointing
Case
1) Court held pointing out offended the constitutional rights of the accused
Case on Reverse Onus:
Case
1) S217(1)(b)(i)-(ii) of CPA:
i. A confession before a magistrate reduced to writing and/or confirmed
by shall on its mere production be admissible as evidence AND
2) be presumed to be made freely and voluntarily unless the accused proves
the contrary
Invalid
Rule 31
Prince
1) Are common cause or otherwise incontrovertible; or
2) are of an official, scientific, technical or statistical nature capable
of easy verification
S32 (access to information) and s34 (access to courts)
1) Have a bearing on State Privilege:
The executive cannot have the final say over the admissibility of evidence in a court of
law,
s35(3):
Evidence obtained in a manner that violates any right in the Bill of Rights must be excluded if the admission:
(i) Render the trial unfair OR
(ii) Is detrimental to the administration of justice.
Substantive Law:
1) Legal rules setting out the rights and duties of parties. It goes to the
‘ends’ that the administration of justice wishes to achieve
Adjective law:
1) The procedural rules regulating how the substantive law is enforced. It
goes to the ‘means’ or the ‘how’ the ends will be achieved
Estoppel
Where a false representation is made to another person who believes the representation and acts upon the false belief, the person making the false representation cannot rely on
it being false- He is estopped from relying on the truth
Parol
