After Hunt

the design is clear.As argucd Murphy involved reliance by ABC Homes on the local authority and their independent contractor whereas it is quite clcar that the majority in the Australian decision regarded the absence of any kind of reliance in the case before them as crucial.Indeed at one point," Deane J indicates that the rcsult might have bcen different if the plaintiffs' predecessor in title had relied on the local authority.Deane J was thus prepared to contemplate reliance by someone other than the plaintiff as a factor sufficient to establish the required proximity. ConclusionMurphy is a deeply disappointing decision both in rclation to the substantive law on defective premises and in its implications for the judicial process.As to the lattcr, it is worrying that their Lordships failed to consider adequately the conccptual, policy, and institutional arguments involved.On a substantive level, there are good grounds for concurring with the judgment of Wilson J in the Supreme Court of Canada when he spoke of A i m . . .a useful protection to the citizen whose ever-increasing reliance on public officials seems to be a feature of our After Hunt: The Burden of Proof, Risk of Non-Persuasion and Judicial Pragmatism Alex Stein* At common law, and under section 101 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980, when the accused relies on a defence which constitutes an 'exception, exemption, proviso, excuse or qualification' to a statutory offence, the accused has to establish it on thc balance of probabilities.Along with other exceptions to the general principle which requires the prosecution to prove its case and disprove any defence put forward by the accused beyond reasonable doubt,' this rule (hereafter: section 101) applies in both summary trials and trials on indictment.2Classification of criminal defences as falling within its ambit by virtue of being 'exceptions' etc, has proved to be 70 supra notes 19-22 and iiccoiiipanyiiig text.71 sicprcr 11 63 at 65, 15-20.72 Ciry of Kmiloops v Nielseii (1984) 10 DLK (4th) 64 I at 674

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