Perverting the course of justice is an offence committed when a person prevents

justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

from being served on themselves or on another party. In

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

it is a

common law offence Common law offences are crimes under English criminal law, the related criminal law of some Commonwealth countries, and under some U.S. State laws. They are offences under the common law, developed entirely by the law courts, having no specific ...

, carrying a maximum sentence of

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

Statutory A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by le ...

versions of the offence exist in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The Scottish equivalent is defeating the ends of justice, while the South African counterpart is defeating or obstructing the course of justice. A similar concept,

obstruction of justice Obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, is an act that involves unduly influencing, impeding, or otherwise interfering with the justice system, especially the legal and procedural tasks of prosecutors, investigators, or other gov ...

, exists in

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

law.

England and Wales

Doing an act tending and intending to pervert the course of public justice is an offence under the

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...

. Perverting the course of justice can be any of three acts: * Fabricating or disposing of evidence * Intimidating or threatening a

witness In law, a witness is someone who has knowledge about a matter, whether they have sensed it or are testifying on another witnesses' behalf. In law a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, e ...

juror A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartiality, impartial verdict (a Question of fact, finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a sentence (law), penalty o ...

* Intimidating or threatening a

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

Also criminal are: # conspiring with another to pervert the course of justice, and # intending to pervert the course of justice This offence, and the subject matter of the related forms of

criminal conspiracy In criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime at some time in the future. Criminal law in some countries or for some conspiracies may require that at least one overt act be undertaken in furtherance o ...

, have been referred to as: *Perverting the course of justice *Interfering with the administration of justice *Obstructing the administration of justice *Obstructing the course of justice *Defeating the due course of justice *Defeating the ends of justice * Effecting a public mischief This proliferation of alternative names has been described as "somewhat confusing". This offence is also sometimes referred to as "attempting to pervert the course of justice". This is potentially misleading. An attempt to pervert the course of justice is a substantive

and not an

inchoate offence An inchoate offense, preliminary crime, inchoate crime or incomplete crime is a crime of preparing for or seeking to commit another crime. The most common example of an inchoate offense is "attempt". "Inchoate offense" has been defined as the fol ...

. It is not a form of the offence of

attempt An attempt to commit a crime occurs if a criminal has an intent to commit a crime and takes a substantial step toward completing the crime, but for reasons not intended by the criminal, the final resulting crime does not occur.''Criminal Law - ...

, and it would be erroneous to charge it as being contrary to section 1(1) of the

Criminal Attempts Act 1981 The Criminal Attempts Act 1981 (c 47) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It applies to England and Wales and creates criminal offences pertaining to attempting to commit crimes. It abolished the common law offence of attempt. P ...

. This offence is

triable only on indictment In many common law jurisdictions (e.g. England and Wales, Ireland, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore), an indictable offence is an offence which can only be tried on an indictment after a preliminary hearing ...

Canada

, the equivalent offence is referred to as "obstructing justice". It is set out in § 139 of the

Criminal Code A criminal code (or penal code) is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that migh ...

Australia

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, the equivalent offence is set out in Section 319 of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW). The maximum penalty is 14 years' imprisonment. In 1985

Murray Farquhar Murray Farquhar OBE (7 July 19183 December 1993) was an Australian jurist. He was the Chief Stipendiary Magistrate of New South Wales between 1971 and 1977. Farquhar was born in Broken Hill, New South Wales. He attended Broken Hill High Scho ...

, the former Chief Stipendiary Magistrate of New South Wales, was convicted of attempting to pervert the course of justice to have charges against Kevin Humphreys dismissed and sentenced to a maximum of four years in prison. In 2009

Marcus Einfeld Marcus Richard Einfeld (born 22 September 1938) is a former Australian judge who served on the Federal Court of Australia and was the inaugural president of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. In retirement, he served two years i ...

, a former Judge of the

Federal Court of Australia The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court of record which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law (with the exception of family law matters), along with some summary (less serious) and indic ...

, was sentenced to a maximum of three years in prison after pleading guilty to making a false statement with intent to pervert the course of justice..

Notable convictions

Jonathan Aitken Jonathan William Patrick Aitken (born 30 August 1942) is a British author, Church of England priest, former prisoner and former Conservative Party politician. Beginning his career in journalism, he was elected to Parliament in 1974 (serving unt ...

, a politician and

British government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

cabinet minister

perjury Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...

and perverting the course of justice *

Jeffrey Archer Jeffrey Howard Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare (born 15 April 1940) is an English novelist, life peer, convicted criminal, and former politician. Before becoming an author, Archer was a Member of Parliament (1969–1974), but did not ...

, an English author and former politicianperjury and perverting the course of justice *

Ali Dizaei Jamshid Ali Dizaei ( fa, جمشید علی دیزایی, transliteration: ''Jamshīd ʿAlī Dizaī''; ) (born 1962) is a former Commander in London's Metropolitan Police Service, Iranian-born with dual nationality, and formerly one of Britain's ...

, a former

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

in London's

Metropolitan Police Service The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

initially found guilty of perverting the course of justice and gaoled; later released on

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...

; subsequently re-convicted *

Chris Huhne Christopher Murray Paul-Huhne (born 2 July 1954), known as Chris Huhne, is a British energy and climate change consultant and former journalist and politician who was the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Eastleigh from 2005 to 2013 an ...

, a journalist and former British government cabinet minister and his former wife,

Vicky Pryce Vasiliki "Vicky" Pryce (' Kourmouzi ( el, Βασιλική Κουρμούζη); born 15 July 1952) is a Greek-born British economist and a former Joint Head of the United Kingdom's Government Economic Service. She is currently the Chief Econom ...

perverting the course of justice (see '' R v Huhne and Pryce'') * John Humble, a former labourerperverting the course of justice *

Bruce Hyman Bruce Anthony Hyman is a British radio and TV producer. A barrister by profession, in 2007 Hyman was the first person in his profession in 800 years to be incarcerated for attempting to pervert the course of justice. Crime On Monday 6 August ...

, an English

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

perverting the course of justice * Karen Matthews and Michael Donovanfound guilty of kidnapping, false imprisonment, and perverting the course of justice Australia *

, an Australian retired Federal Court and

NSW ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, WA and

ACT Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory is the highest court of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It has unlimited jurisdiction within the territory in civil matters and hears the most serious criminal matters. The court has ...

judgeperjury and perverting the course of justice, for lying relative to a speeding ticket. *

Lionel Murphy Lionel Keith Murphy QC (30 August 1922 – 21 October 1986) was an Australian politician, barrister, and judge. He was a Senator for New South Wales from 1962 to 1975, serving as Attorney-General in the Whitlam Government, and then sat on the ...

, an Australian former politician and

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises Original jurisdiction, original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Constitution of Australia, Australia's Constitution. The High Court was established fol ...

judgeinitially found guilty of perverting the course of justice; the NSW Appeal Court subsequently

quash A motion to quash is a request to a court or other tribunal to render a previous decision or proceeding null or invalid. The exact usage of motions to quash depend on the rules of the particular court or tribunal. In some cases, motions to quash a ...

ed the conviction and ordered a retrial; subsequently found not guilty

References

*
Perjury and Perversion of the Course of Justice Considered
' (

PDF Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...

), a primer on the legal details of the offence.

External links

* {{Authority control Abuse of the legal system Crimes Deception English criminal law Common law offences in England and Wales