‘The Court of Appeal affirmed in the case of R v Barton that the test for dishonesty to be used in criminal proceedings is that set out in obiter dicta by the Supreme Court in Ivey v Genting Casinos UK (t/a Cockfords Club), expressly overruling the two-stage test set out in R v Ghosh. Modifying (albeit to a limited extent) the principle of stare decisis, the court held that, in limited circumstances, where the Supreme Court directs, obiter dicta, that an otherwise binding decision of the Court of Appeal should no longer be followed and proposes an alternative test that it says must be adopted, the Court of Appeal is bound to follow that direction. The test in Ivey ensures dishonesty is objectively assessed by reference to society’s standards, rather than the defendant’s own understanding of what is dishonest. This resolves the problematic second limb of the Ghosh test.’
5SAH, 18th May 2020
Source: www.5sah.co.uk
