We all love it when a judge mentions us in a judgment (unless we are the Defendant!) so imagine the joy in Halsbury House when Lord Justice Richards said the following in the Court of Appeal:
“16. There has been some debate before us as to whether rule 15 of the Criminal Appeal Rules 1968, on which the court in R v Cross placed such weight, is still in force. It was intended that existing procedural rules would be superseded by the Criminal Procedure Rules on their introduction in 2005.”
However, rule 15 still featured on other legal databases as being in force, which lead counsel to provide the court with written submissions as to why that might be the correct position. Lord Justice Richards continued:
“We strongly doubt the point: LexisLibrary looks more accurate in referring to the revocation of the 1968 Rules. “
The legislation on LexisLibrary is updated every day, and the team pride themselves on their attention to detail when it comes to amendments, and repeals or revocations. Not only does a search for the rules tell you that they are not in force, a quick click on the link to Halsbury’s SI citator tells you that they are lapsed.
Check out the judgment for yourselves here: http://tinyurl.com/cjfe2c4
And the rules here: http://tinyurl.com/6vevkx8
And for the really keen amongst you, the manual on SI practice from HMSO:
