Confession in United Kingdom

Definition of Confession

In accordance with the work A Dictionary of Law, this is a description of Confession :

An *admission, in whole or in part, made by an accused person of his guilt. At common law, confessions were admissible if made voluntarily, i.e. not obtained as a result of some threat or inducement held out by a person in authority (such as a police officer). They are now governed by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, which requires the prosecution, if called upon to do SO, to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the confession was not obtained by oppression of the person who made it or as a result of anything that was likely to render the confession unreliable. A confession may also be ruled to be inadmissible if the civil rights of the accused have been breached, for example if he has been denied access to legal advice.

Definition of Confession And Avoidance

In accordance with the work A Dictionary of Law, this is a description of Confession And Avoidance : A pleading in the *defence that, while admitting or assuming the truth of the material facts alleged in the particulars of claim (the confession), seeks to avoid or destroy the legal consequences of those facts by alleging further facts constituting some defence to the claim (the avoidance). An example is a plea of self-defence to an action for assault.