ABSTRACT
One of the most complex and contradictory areas of the English law of criminal evidence is that dealing with evidence of the accused’s character. Technicalities abound, and the inconsistency and contradiction within the case law has given rise to considerable criticism and debate. The search for a clearly stated and easily applied scheme for governing the admission of character evidence has occupied scholars and judges in most common law jurisdictions, and the one apparently universal conclusion is that the matter is not susceptible to such ready solutions.1 In 1996, the Law Commission for England and Wales produced a Consultation Paper of epic length, acknowledging the unsatisfactory state of the law and finally concluding, with a tone of resignation as much as satisfaction, that the way forward was to make some minor amendments to the existing unsatisfactory system.2
