Report No. 94
8.3. Constitutional aspect of the Privy Council ruling.-
However, the particular relevance of the above ruling of the Privy Council to constitutional issues is the disposition of the argument that, where the illegally obtained evidence was obtained in violation of the accused's constitutional right, it ought to have been excluded under the Jamaican Constitution. Lord Hodson disposed of this argument concisely:
"This constitutional right may or may not be enshrined in a written constitution, but it seems to the Lordships that it matters not whether it depends on such enshrinement or simply upon the common law as it would do in this country. In either event the discretion of the court must be exercised and has not been taken away by the declaration of the right in written form".
Back