“The Canadian Supreme Court decision in Ontario v Clark, 2021 SCC 18 on prosecutorial immunity against civil claims for misfeasance in public office should be of interest to English lawyers. Canada and England share similar traditions in public prosecution, and their jurisprudence on tort liability of prosecutors has developed in tandem. Public prosecutors exercise considerable power in both jurisdictions, acting as gatekeepers of the criminal justice system. For constitutional reasons, prosecutorial discretion is subject to limited judicial review. Unchecked, prosecutorial misconduct can have grave consequences for accused persons and third parties. Some degree of transparency and accountability for prosecutorial discretion is maintained through judicial review, internal review processes, and prosecution guidelines …”
€ (Westlaw)
Kumaralingam Amirthalingam, ‘Public prosecutors and the tort of misfeasance’ (2021) 137 Law Quarterly Review (Oct) 553.
First posted 2021-09-20 08:00:30
Leave a Reply