Principle Archive

Where it is doubtful that the accused had attained the age of 17 years when he committed the offence, that doubt ought to be resolved in…

For an accused to rely on the first limb of section 28 of the Criminal Code, he must prove that at the time of the offence,…

In determining the defence of insanity, the trial judge must consider any admissible medical evidence and the whole of the facts and surrounding circumstances, including the…

The law is that evidence of insanity tendered by the accused himself is suspect and is not usually taken seriously.

For the second limb of section 28 of the Criminal Code to avail an accused person as a defence, he must show that there is a…

An accused who pleads insanity has the burden of proving he was suffering from insanity at the time of the offence. The burden is on the…

It is trite law that mere absence of any evidence of motive for a crime is not a sufficient ground to infer mania or insanity.

Evidence that the behaviour of the appellant was abnormal is of no moment because abnormal behaviour is not evidence of insanity.

For an appellant to canvass before the Supreme Court an issue that was raised at the trial court but abandoned in the Court of Appeal, it…

Where an appellant files both an appeal to the Supreme Court and a motion to relist a dismissed appeal in the Court of Appeal, both processes…

Abuse of judicial process includes instituting a multiplicity of actions on the same subject matter against the same opponent, instituting different actions simultaneously in different courts,…

A litigant has no right to pursue pari passu two processes which will have the same effect in two courts at the same time. Litigation is…