ABSTRACT
The rule at common law is that a judicial finding in one case is inadmissible in another case between different parties to prove the facts on which the first decision was based. The reason for this is that it would be unjust for someone to have his rights affected by litigation to which he was not a party and in which, therefore, he could not be heard (Duchess of Kingston’s case (1776)). However, this principle was applied in such a way that criminal convictions had to be ignored in cases where common sense would have acknowledged them to be both relevant and weighty. Reform in civil cases was achieved by statute in 1968 and in criminal cases in 1984.
