Clause 2 - Entering United Kingdom without passport
Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill
4:00 pm
Mr Humfrey Malins (Woking, Conservative)
This has been an interesting debate and I have little to add to it, but we are moving into interesting territory of where the burden of proof lies in a case in which a reasonable excuse is offered. The standard position is that in every single criminal case, it is for the prosecution to prove the defendant's guilt. The burden is on the prosecution from beginning to end; it is, and remains throughout, with the prosecution. The defendant does not have to prove anything. Furthermore, the standard is high. A case can be found to be proved only if the court is sure of guilt. Those standard directions are given by any judge in any case, but of course there are interesting cases in parallel to what we are discussing in which slightly offbeat rules apply.
Let us take the case of an assault in which the defence is self-defence. The law is clear that if an assault is in self-defence, it is not an offence, so the standard direction to a jury in a case involving self-defence is as follows. The defendant, charged with punching someone, has raised the issue of self-defence. That issue having been raised, he does not have to prove it. It is for the prosecution to prove that self-defence did not exist. That is the subtle difference. There is a shift.
That is an interesting parallel to the situation that we have been discussing. In effect, the amendment says the same thing: once the proposition of a reasonable excuse is put forward, it is for the Crown to prove that it does not exist. That is a nice parallel with the position on self-defence. Indeed, I can see no other logical way forward than that proposed in the amendment. Once the matter is raised, it is for the
Crown to prove that it does not exist, rather than the other way round. I congratulate the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome on the careful drafting of his amendment and the excellent way he spoke to it. It is always a privilege to hear what the hon. Member for Walthamstow (Mr. Gerrard) has to say on these matters.