Abstract
The requirement that the plaintiff in an action for malicious prosecution must prove a lack of reasonable and probable cause to initiate, instigate or continue the prosecution on the part of the instigator or prosecutor is one of the four elements of that cause of action. It is a vital link between the lawfulness of the prosecution and the state of mind of the defendant. Again, whether a prosecution is wrongful or lawful depends on whether there was a reasonable and probable cause coupled with the animus iniuriandi of the defendant in instigating, initiating or continuing it. It is not whether the prosecutor possessed evidence to secure a conviction since that is for the trial court to decide after the conclusion of evidence; but, the honest belief by the prosecutor that, having carefully collected and objectively assessed the available information, the plaintiff was probably guilty of the crime. In coming to that decision the prosecutor must have grappled with both the subjective and objective elements in the exercise of that discretion. The Australian High Court judgment in A v New South Wales 2007 230 CLR 500 (HCA) has brought clarity to this aspect of the problem. However, as this paper contends, the ten-point guidelines enunciated by that court in that case and designed to provide the courts with a seemingly less complicated formula for determining if the prosecutor lacked reasonable and probable cause do not appear to have provided the panacea to the problem. Meanwhile, the distinct nature of the requirement of reasonable and probable cause is made clearer when it is compared with reasonable ground to arrest in the case of wrongful arrest and the tort of abuse of process. Also problematic and equally challenging is identifying where a reasonable and probable cause inquiry stops and malice begins. This is brought out in the attempt by the Supreme Court of Canada to unravel the tension between the proof of the existence of malice and reasonable and probable cause in the law of malicious prosecution in Miazga v Kvello Estate 2009 3 SCR 339 (SCC). The extent to which the guidelines laid down in these recent cases would have resolved the confusion in this field of the law is yet to be realised.
 
Highlights
It is not every prosecution that is concluded in favour of the accused person that necessarily leads to a successful claim for malicious prosecution
That was as far as the point went; and the finding that there was reasonable and proper cause for the prosecution meant that the question of malice or improper cause became irrelevant to liability. It would be wrong in the circumstances to go any further into the issue.'" The is Moulton v Chief Constable of the West Midlands 2010 EWCA Civ 524 paras 26-27 and 44 where Lady Justice Smith held that the trial judge had been right to hold that there was reasonable and probable cause to commence the prosecution but had made no specific reference to evidence of malice at the time of the charge, as he had not needed to do so
In an action for wrongful arrest, on the other hand, the burden is always on the defendant to justify the arrest and detention[36] and he/she must prove in defence that he/she had reasonable suspicion as grounds to arrest as one of four statutory jurisdictional facts in terms of section 40(1)(b) of the Criminal Procedure Act 1977.37 Restated by the Supreme Court of Appeal in Minister of Safety and Director of Public Prosecutions v Zuma 2009 2 SA 277 (SCA) paras 37-38, Harms DP said that "a prosecution is not wrongful merely because it is brought for an improper purpose
Summary
It is not every prosecution that is concluded in favour of the accused person that necessarily leads to a successful claim for malicious prosecution. That was as far as the point went; and the finding that there was reasonable and proper cause for the prosecution meant that the question of malice or improper cause became irrelevant to liability It would be wrong in the circumstances to go any further into the issue.'" The is Moulton v Chief Constable of the West Midlands 2010 EWCA Civ 524 paras 26-27 and 44 where Lady Justice Smith held that the trial judge had been right to hold that there was reasonable and probable cause to commence the prosecution but had made no specific reference to evidence of malice at the time of the charge, as he had not needed to do so. See Howarth v Gwent Constabulary 2011 EWHC 2836 (QB) paras 130-131. A v New South Wales 2007 230 CLR 500 (HCA) (A v NSW) para 1. Nelles v Ontario 1989 2 SCR 170 (SCC) (Nelles). Proulx v Quebec (Attorney General) 2001 206 DLR (4th) 1 (SCC) (Proulx). Miazga v Kvello Estate 2009 3 SCR 339 (SCC) (Miazga 2), 2008 282 DLR (4th) 1 (Sask CA) (Miazga 1)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
