Offences against public justice explained

Offences against public justice^[1] are offences against public justice. Offences against the administration of public justice^[2] or offences against the administration of justice^[3] are offences against the administration of justice.

Australia

South Australia

See formerly sections 289 to 298 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1876.

Canada

Part 4 of the Criminal Code makes provision for offences against the administration of law and justice.

India

Offences under the Code of 1860 included:

• Giving false evidence, contrary to section 191 of the Indian Penal Code^[4]
• Fabricating false evidence, contrary to section 192 of the Indian Penal Code^[5]

Republic of Ireland

Offences include:

• Perjury, contrary to section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Perjury and Related Offences) Act 2021. This was previously a common law offence.^[6]
• Contempt of court^[7]
• Attempting to pervert the course of justice^[8]

In Part 3 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2010, the expression "offence against the administration of justice" is defined by section 7 of that Act, as amended by section 27 of the Criminal Justice (Corruption Offences) Act 2018.

New Zealand

Part 6 of the Crimes Act 1961 makes provision for crimes affecting the administration of law and justice.

South Africa

Offences include

• Perjury^[9]
• Contempt of court^[10]
• Defeating or obstructing the course of justice^[11]

United Kingdom

England and Wales

The fifth report of the Criminal Law Commissioners, dated 22 April 1840, classified offences against the administration of justice as offences against the executive power.^[12] The Justice of the Peace said that it seemed to them that offences against the administration of justice were entirely distinct from offences against the executive power.^[13]

Scotland

Offences include:

• Perjury^[14]
• Contempt of court^[15]
• Prison breaking
• Escape from lawful custody^[16]
• Escape from custody, contrary to section 91 of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012

Deforcement^[17] was, by 2001, charged as aggravated assault.^[18]

United States

Offences include:

• Perjury^[19]
• Contempt of court^[20]
• Offences of obstruction of justice^[21] under chapter 73 of 18 USC.

References

• Blackstone. "Of Offences against Public Justice". Commentaries on the Laws of England. Book 4. Chapter 10. Page 127.
• Hawkins. "Of Offences against the Public Justice of the Kingdom". A Treatise of the Pleas of the Crown. Eighth Edition, by John Curwood. 1824. Book 1. Chapter 27. Page 412.
• Hale. Historia Placitorum Coronae. Chapter L. Page 575.

England and Wales

• Richardson (ed). "Offences against Public Justice". Archbold Criminal Pleading, Evidence and Practice 2011. Chapter 28. Pages 2511 to 2573.
• Hooper and Ormerod (eds). "Offences Against the Administration of Justice". Blackstone's Criminal Practice 2012. Section B14. Pages 817 to 863.
• Richard Card. "Offences against the administration of justice". Card, Cross, and Jones Criminal Law. 17th Edition. 2006. Chapter 12. Pages 507 to 530.
• Harris and Tomlinson. Principles of the Criminal Law. Second Edition. 1881. Chapter 4. Page 76.

Scotland

• A M Anderson. "Offences against the Administration of Justice". The Criminal Law of Scotland. 1892. Pages 53 to 63.
• R A A McCall Smith and David Sheldon. "Offences against the administration of justice". Scots Criminal Law. Second Edition. Butterworths. 1997. Chapter 20. Pages 329 to 336.
• Christie (ed). Gerald H Gordon. "Offences against the Course of Justice". The Criminal Law of Scotland. Third Edition. W Green. 2001. Volume 2. Part VIII. Chapters 47 to 50. Pages 719 to 766.
• Claire McDiarmid. "Crimes Against the Course of Justice". Criminal Law. Dundee University Press. 2007. Chapter 12. Pages 115 to 121.
• Ferguson. Scots Criminal Law. 2nd Edition. Chapter 14.

Republic of Ireland

• Sean E Quinn. "Offences against the Administration of Justice". Criminal Law in Ireland. Fourth Edition. Irish Law Publishing. 2009. Chapter 55. Pages 1655 to 1714. Second Edition. 1993. Chapter 38. Pages 335 to 345. https://archive.org/details/criminallawinire0002quin
• T J McIntyre and Sinead McMullan. "Offences against the Administration of Justice". Criminal Law. Second Edition. Thomson Round Hall. 2005. Chapter 9. Pages 169 to 181.

Australia

• Peter Gillies. "Offences Against Justice". Criminal Law. Third Edition. Law Book Company. 1993. Chapter 32. Page 802 et seq.

New Zealand

• J D Willis. "Part VI: Crimes Affecting the Administration of Law and Justice". Garrow and Willis's Criminal Law. Fifth Edition. Butterworths. 1968. Pages 82 to 97.

South Africa

• Burchell and Milton. "Crimes against the Administration of Justice". Principles of Criminal Law. Second Edition. Juta & Co. 1997. Section I. Chapters 86 to 90. Pages 687 to 713.
• Alfred V Lansdown. "Offences relating to the Administration of Justice". Outlines of South African Criminal Law and Procedure. Second Edition. Juta. 1960. Chapter X. Page 167 et seq.

Canada

• "Part IV: Offences Against the Administration of Law and Justice". Crankshaw's Criminal Code of Canada. Fifth Edition. Carswell. 1924. Pages 158 to 202.
• Crankshaw. The Criminal Code of Canada. Third Edition. 1910. Page 140 et seq.

India

• K D Gaur. "Of False Evidence and Offences against Public Justice". Textbook on the Indian Penal Code. Fourth Edition. Universal Law Publishing. 2009. Chapter 11. Pages 327 to 365.

United States

• Peters. "For Offences against Public Justice". Riley's Edition of Chitty's Practical Treatise on the Criminal Law. 1819. Volume 2. Chapter 8. Page 69.
• Robert Destry. "Offences against Public Justice". A Compendium of American Criminal Law. 1882. Chapter 12. Pages 177 to 220.
• Ohlin. "Offenses Against the Administration of Justice". Criminal Law: Doctrine, Application, and Practice. Third Edition. Aspen. Chapter 17. Pages 461 et seq.

Notes and References

1. See, for example, the chapters in the books Archbold Criminal Pleading, Evidence and Practice; Chitty's Practical Treatise on the Criminal Law; Blackstone's Commentaries, Hawkins' Pleas of the Crown; Harris' Principles of the Criminal Law; and Destry's Compendium of American Criminal Law.
2. Criminal Law Commissioners, Fifth Report, 22 April 1840, pp 18 & 29; Broom's Commentaries, 9th Edition, 1896, p 1024.
3. See, for example, the chapters in the books Blackstone's Criminal Practice; Card, Cross, and Jones Criminal Law; Anderson's Criminal Law of Scotland; Smith and Sheldon's Scots Criminal Law; and McIntyre and McMullan's Criminal Law.
4. K D Gaur, Textbook on the Indian Penal Code, 4th Ed, 2009, p 327
5. K D Gaur, Textbook on the Indian Penal Code, 4th Ed, 2009, p 330
6. McIntyre and McMullan, Criminal Law, 2nd Ed, 2005, p 169
7. McIntyre and McMullan, Criminal Law, 2nd Ed, 2005, p 170
8. The Criminal Procedure Act 2010, section 7
9. Burchell and Milton, Principles of Criminal Law, 2nd Ed, 1997, chapter 89
10. Burchell and Milton, Principles of Criminal Law, 2nd Ed, 1997, chapter 88
11. Burchell and Milton, Principles of Criminal Law, 2nd Ed, 1997, chapter 87
12. 8 The Monthly Law Magazine 94
13. 4 The Justice of the Peace 552
14. Gordon, The Criminal Law of Scotland, 3rd Ed, vol 2, chapter 47
15. Gordon, The Criminal Law of Scotland, 3rd Ed, vol 2, chapter 50
16. Gordon, The Criminal Law of Scotland, 3rd Ed, vol 2, chapter 48
17. Anderson, Criminal Law of Scotland, 1892, p 54
18. Gordon, The Criminal Law of Scotland, 3rd Ed, vol 2, p 745
19. Ohlin, Criminal Law: Doctrine, Application, and Practice, 3rd Ed, p 462
20. Ohlin, Criminal Law: Doctrine, Application, and Practice, 3rd Ed, p 464
21. Ohlin, Criminal Law: Doctrine, Application, and Practice, 3rd Ed, p 461