Perverting the course of justice, in English, Canadian (see article 139 of Canadian Criminal Code), and Irish law, is a criminal offence in which someone prevents justice from being served on himself or on another party. It is a common law offence carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Perverting the course of justice can be any of three acts:
Also criminal are (1) conspiring with another to pervert the course of justice and (2) intending to pervert the course of justice.
Statutory versions of the offence exist in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. See, for example, Section 319 of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW),[1] where the maximum penalty is 14 years' imprisonment.
Contents |
Doing an act tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice[2] is an offence under the common law of England and Wales.
This offence, and the subject matter of the related forms of criminal conspiracy, has been referred to as:
This proliferation of alternative names is "somewhat confusing".[4]
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 common law offence and not an inchoate offence. It is not a form of the offence of attempt and it would be erroneous to charge it as being contrary to section 1(1) of the Criminal Attempts Act 1981.[5]