Civil Recovery in England and Wales: An Appraisal

The chapter analyses the establishment of and the case law on civil recovery. It suggests that the procedure arose, essentially, as a technique to avoid granting the set of rights associated with human rights law in criminal proceedings. The chapter argues that the jurisprudence leading to the decisions that the civil recovery procedure is not covered by Articles 6.2 and 6.3 is unsatisfactory and that its consequences for the admissibility of evidence and for the other Article rights are troubling. The chapter suggests that that the twin causes might be an environment of unreflecting commitment to the ‘follow the money’ dogma in respect of proceeds of crime and the recognition of the civil/criminal distinction as an axiom of human rights law. Both require fuller and more critical attention.