The House is not bound on an appeal brought pursuant to a certificate granted under section 1(6) of the 1907 Act to limit the appeal to the certified point. Lord Atkin discussed the 1907 Act: ‘I mention the section in order to support the view that whatever be the point of law upon which the Attorney-General grants his certificate, once it is granted there is ‘a further appeal’ to this House upon all the grounds open to the Court below. The appeal is not limited to the point of law of exceptional public importance, which indeed is not specified in the certificate. The result is that this House is armed with all the powers of the Court of Criminal Appeal in like cases, and amongst other matters may act upon the proviso to section 4(1), if it were to consider that, though the point of law was wrongly decided, no substantial miscarriage of justice had occurred.’
Judges:
Lord Atkin
Citations:
[1940] AC 1
Statutes:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Attorney-General for Northern Ireland v Gallagher HL 1961
The defendant appealed against his conviction for the murder of his wife. The court allowed his appeal on the ground of a misdirection. The prosecutor having now appealed, he sought to plead insanity.
Held: The appeal was allowed on the new . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Practice
Updated: 01 May 2022; Ref: scu.272900