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    Joinder of Parties and Charges in Criminal Proceedings

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    Xiexie
    The document discusses the rules around joinder of parties and criminal charges in court proceedings. It notes that in general, separate trials are required under the rule against joinder of accused persons. However, there are exceptions allowing multiple people to be charged and tried jointly if they were involved in the same transaction and committing the same or different offenses. It provides examples from case law where courts have allowed or disallowed joint trials based on the specific facts and whether a real link existed between the accused in terms of common intention or conduct. The key factors considered are whether the offenses were connected as part of the same transaction and if trying the cases jointly would serve the interests of justice.

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    Joinder of Parties and Charges in Criminal Proceedings

    Uploaded by

    Xiexie
    58 views2 pages
    The document discusses the rules around joinder of parties and criminal charges in court proceedings. It notes that in general, separate trials are required under the rule against joinder of accused persons. However, there are exceptions allowing multiple people to be charged and tried jointly if they were involved in the same transaction and committing the same or different offenses. It provides examples from case law where courts have allowed or disallowed joint trials based on the specific facts and whether a real link existed between the accused in terms of common intention or conduct. The key factors considered are whether the offenses were connected as part of the same transaction and if trying the cases jointly would serve the interests of justice.

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    The document discusses the rules around joinder of parties and criminal charges in court proceedings. It notes that in general, separate trials are required under the rule against joinder of accused persons. However, there are exceptions allowing multiple people to be charged and tried jointly if they were involved in the same transaction and committing the same or different offenses. It provides examples from case law where courts have allowed or disallowed joint trials based on the specific facts and whether a real link existed between the accused in terms of common intention or conduct. The key factors considered are whether the offenses were connected as part of the same transaction and if trying the cases jointly would serve the interests of justice.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    58 views2 pages

    Joinder of Parties and Charges in Criminal Proceedings

    Uploaded by

    Xiexie
    The document discusses the rules around joinder of parties and criminal charges in court proceedings. It notes that in general, separate trials are required under the rule against joinder of accused persons. However, there are exceptions allowing multiple people to be charged and tried jointly if they were involved in the same transaction and committing the same or different offenses. It provides examples from case law where courts have allowed or disallowed joint trials based on the specific facts and whether a real link existed between the accused in terms of common intention or conduct. The key factors considered are whether the offenses were connected as part of the same transaction and if trying the cases jointly would serve the interests of justice.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    JOINDER OF PARTIES AND CHARGES IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS

    In general, there are two rules applicable in matter relating to the joinder of offences and
    criminal charges which are the rule against duplicity and the rule against joinder of charges as
    stated under section 163 of the CPC. However, there are exceptions to the general rule on
    cases provided under section 164, 165, 166 and 170 of the CPC.
    Under the rule against joinder of accused person or joint trials, it is means that every person
    should be tried separately according to the charges of the offence. However, there are several
    exceptions to this rule and one of the exception is under section 170 of the CPC which
    regards to the charge and tried jointly. This provides that more than two people can be charge
    on the same offence and tried jointly if the court think it to be just. The court may allow if it
    is falls under these two circumstances namely, where all the accused was in the same
    transaction and committing either the same or different offences and second, where one is
    accused of committing an offence and the other of abetment or attempt to commit the same
    offence.
    However, in certain situations, the court may or may not allow joinder of parties to be tried
    together in one trial. This can be referring to the case of Jayaraman & Ors v PP, where in one
    trial, eight persons were tried jointly based on section 170(1) of the CPC. Court allowed four
    charges to be tried in the same trial as the offences committed were connected from the same
    transaction. This judgement was made based on the courts discretion which it thinks fit for
    the case to do so.
    Furthermore, in Amrita Lal Hazra v Emperor, the eight accused have been charged for four
    offences which alleged to be committed at the same time, place and there is also a continuity
    of action. The prosecution by referring to section 34 of the Penal Code also alleged that there
    is common intention between all the accused and supposed to be charged in the same
    offences even though the crimes was committed only by one person. Thus, it is reasonable for
    the court to allowed joint parties to be tried in one trial.
    To add, section 170(2) of the CPC has classified an offence into three categories which the
    accused may be tried jointly which are in the case of theft, criminal breach of trust, or
    cheating, second, receiving, retaining, or assisting in the disposal of property and lastly
    abetment or attempting to commit any such last names offences. On the other hand, in
    illustration (c) and (d) of section 170, an example of ituations where ajoint trial should not be
    allowed is when the two accused commiting a riot but in opposite party, or when the two
    accused are charged for giving false evidence in the same proceeding. So, these to situations
    must be charged and tried separately.
    In Datuk Haji Wasli bin Mohd Said v PP & Anor, a joint trial has been issued by the
    prosecution to the High Court under section 170 of the CPC. Unfortunately, the court held by
    disallowing the application by the prosecution as the court not found the link between the two
    accused in term of their common attention or their conducts. Hence, to avoid the violence of
    interest of justice, the court decided for the two accused to be tried separately.
    In conclusions, the joinder of parties can be tried in one trial if the court thinks it is fit based
    on the facts and alleged offences committed by the accused.

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