O(B) v Director of the Serious Fraud Office – WLR Daily

O(B) v Director of the Serious Fraud Office: [2012] EWCA Crim 901;  [2012] WLR (D)  133

“In contempt of court cases, there was a right of appeal to the Supreme Court from the Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, by the route of rectification of section 378 and paragraph 45(2) of Schedule 16 to the Armed Forces Act 2006 which had deleted the reference to the Court of Appeal, Criminal Division and inserted no new reference. The substance of the provision Parliament would have made had the drafting error been noticed, occasioned no difficulty. All that would have been required was the insertion of express wording following ‘Court of Appeal’ in section 13(2)(c) of the Administration of Justice Act 1960 (as amended) making it plain that ‘Court of Appeal’ encompassed both civil and criminal divisions. The rectification preserved an important right of appeal and avoided an outcome which had no rational justification.”

WLR Daily, 2nd May 2012

Source: www.iclr.co.uk