The NLJ Column
Sometimes, the process of justice and the quest for truth is not the slick, seamless process that many would find preferable. In any fact-finding tribunal, the presentation and testing of evidence requires a disciplined, but rigorous, application, how else can a court distil the cogent and dismiss the chaff?
Neither is it controversial to state that the perception of justice is also central to the process and integral to this is open and thorough examination of the issues, for it is just as important to test a contention and find it wanting, as it is to sustain it. It is with these two fundamentals in mind, that we must consider the recent inquest into the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Al-Fayed.
Causation
Critical to any inquest is the question “how” the deceased came about their death. This does not mean a simple medical inquiry into the cause of death, but involves a conscientious examination of causation.
The controversy and speculation surrounding the so-called
