Neil Addison, a practising criminal barrister and writer on religious freedom and the law, has contributed the following guest post on the outcome of Cardinal Pell’s appeal.

There is “a significant possibility that an innocent person has been convicted because the evidence did not establish guilt to the requisite standard of proof”. With these words, Chief Justice Susan Kiefel finished the Summary of the decision of the High Court of Australia quashing Cardinal Pells conviction on two counts of child sexual abuse.

The decision of the High Court in Pell v The Queen [2020] HCA 12 (7 April 2020) was a unanimous judgment by the seven most senior judges in Australia – which should make it clear that the Cardinal was not acquitted on the basis of some minor legal quirk but instead he won because of fundamental principles of law. Continue reading →