Essex Lad
Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 4:43 pm
"NOT what I said at all. I said the presumption of innocence is, and has to be, a legal fiction. If, for example, the police and CPS think Max Clifford is innocent, why is he on trial? This does not in any way mean that anyone accused should not be given a fair trial where the state has to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt."
Here you go, my little, confused, Essex pedant.
"The presumption of innocence, sometimes referred to by the Latin expression Ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non qui negat (the burden of proof is on he who declares, not on he who denies), is the principle that one is considered innocent until proven guilty" "Presumption of innocence" serves to emphasize that the prosecution has the obligation to prove each element of the offence beyond a reasonable doubt (or some other level of proof depending on the criminal justice system) and that the accused bears no burden of proof. This is often expressed in the phrase innocent until proven guilty, coined by the English lawyer Sir William Garrow (1760?1840).