What common law statement does a defendant need to prove his guilt?

Alberta, Canada


The following excerpt is from R. v. Stanger, 1983 ABCA 196 (CanLII):

The classic common law statement is found in Woolmington v. D.P.P., [1935] A.C. 462 at 481-2: "Throughout the web of the English Criminal Law one golden thread is always to be seen, that it is the duty of the prosecution to prove the prisoner's guilt subject to what I have already said as to the defence of insanity and subject also to any statutory exception. If, at the end of and on the whole of the case, there is a reasonable doubt, created by the evidence given by either the prosecution or the prisoner, as to whether the prisoner killed the deceased with a malicious intention, the prosecution has not made out the case and the prisoner is entitled to an acquittal. No matter what the charge or where the trial, the principle that the prosecution must prove the guilt of the prisoner is part of the common law of England and no attempt to whittle it down can be entertained."

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