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Clause 276

simplifies the appeal grounds without departing from the overall "substantial miscarriage of justice" test. It does so by reflecting the following approach—
the current first ground of appeal is fundamentally sound;
there is duplication (and linguistic difficulty) in requiring initial consideration of whether there has been a miscarriage and then separate consideration of whether there as been a substantial miscarriage;
A single-tiered test removes much of the complexity of the current provision and is preferred over a two-tiered grounds of appeal and proviso structure;
the phrase "substantial miscarriage of justice" should remain the ultimate test for determining whether an appeal should be allowed or dismissed;
there is a presumption that, until the contrary is shown, a trial before judge and jury was fair and in accordance with law. It follows that the onus to persuade the court of the matters required for a successful appeal should be on the appellant;
errors or irregularities in the trial should result in appeals being allowed when the problem could have reasonably made a difference to the trial outcome; or if the error or irregularity was of a fundamental kind depriving the appellant of a fair trial or amounting to an abuse of process (regardless of whether it could have made a difference to the trial outcome).