ABSTRACT
Lord Reid: ... So I turn to proviso (f). It is an absolute prohibition of certain questions unless one or other of the three conditions is satisfied. It says the accused ‘shall not be asked, and if asked shall not be required to answer’, certain questions. It was suggested that this applies to examination-in-chief as well as to crossexamination. I do not think so. The words ‘shall not be required to answer’ are quite inappropriate for examination-in-chief. The proviso is obviously intended to protect the accused. It does not prevent him from volunteering evidence, and does not in my view prevent his counsel from asking questions leading to disclosure of a previous conviction or bad character if such disclosure is thought to assist in his defence.
