In civil contempt proceedings for breach of a freezing order in Victoria, the alleged contemnor bears only an evidential burden to raise a reasonable possibility that impugned transactions fall within exceptions to the order; the legal burden of disproving the exception beyond reasonable doubt remains on the party alleging contempt. CC Containers Pty Ltd v Lee (No 8) is no longer to be followed on this point. The question whether the Evidence Act 2008 (Vic) has displaced the criminal standard of proof in Witham v Holloway remains open but the practical position in Victoria is to apply the criminal standard.
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