So what's important here?

Well, it's all important.

But, if I were on a really tight schedule I would have a look at Chapter 8, under the innocuous-sounding title of General.

What will make the Evidence Act 2008 so difficult for generations of legal students to come is that it's natural, given the title it has been given and the way it has been laid out, to assume that it's a one-stop shop on evidence law. And, come to think of it, that's the way it was sold, too.

Then you get to s 8 of that Act and realise that any contradictory provision in any other act is going to have primacy.

So for that reason alone, dip into s 328 through 389 and see how they modify the existing law.

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336A. Victim who is a witness entitled to be present in court

336A. Victim who is a witness entitled to be present in court

(1) In a criminal proceeding where a victim of the offence is a witness in the proceeding, the court may order the victim to leave the courtroom until required to give evidence only if the court considers it appropriate to do so.

(2) Nothing in this section prevents the court from ordering a victim who is a witness to leave the courtroom at any time after giving evidence.

This section was inserted by the Criminal Procedure Amendment (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Act 2009. It had earlier been introduced into the Evidence Act 1958, according to the amending legislation's Explanatory Memorandum, to, "to support and recognise the role of victims in criminal proceedings".

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