Concepts of Evidence
21 Jun 2018
Submission to the Law Commission on the Second Review of the Evidence Act 2006 (Issues Paper 42)
In February 2017 the Minister of Justice, by exercising the Minister’s powers under section 202 of the Evidence Act 2006, triggered a second five-yearly review of the Act’s operation. The Commission sought submissions and comments from interested groups and people on the matters raised in the paper.
The NZBA responded with a comprehensive submission, noting that the rules of evidence are of fundamental importance and that the review raised important questions. A full copy of that submission can be found here.
The Association responded to questions on the following issues:
- The retention of the s202 review;
- Te Ao Maori and the Evidence Act;
- Evidence of sexual experience, including Sexual disposition evidence, Complainant’s sexual experience with the defendant, False or allegedly false prior complaints, Extension of section 44 to civil proceedings, Notice requirement in section 44A;
- Conviction evidence;
- Right to silence;
- Unreliable statements;
- Improperly obtained evidence including s 30(3) factors, yse of previously excluded evidence in a different context and addressing concerns associated with evidence gathered during undercover operations;
- Identification evidence;
- Giving evidence in sexual and family violence cases, including pre-recording evidence, recording evidence for use at re-trial, access to evidential video interviews and judicial control over witness questioning;
- Conduct of experts;
- Counterintuitive evidence in sexual and family violence cases;
- Judicial directions on the impact of significant delay;
- Veracity evidence;
- Co-defendants’ statements;
- Privilege, including extension of legal advice privilege to third party communications, Termination of privilege; and
- Improving the Evidence Regulations 2007.
