A trial judge's direction that the jury may give more weight to admissions in an out-of-court statement than to exculpatory assertions is proper, provided the jury is told the matter is entirely for them. A foreshadowed or provisional ruling by a trial judge, where no final ruling is made because the relevant evidence is never led, does not give rise to a ground of appeal. The question whether a plainly erroneous provisional ruling that effectively constrains counsel may ground an appeal was left open.
The full text is available to signed-in members.