A comparative review of the granting of bail

Abstract

With the progress of civilization and the international campaign for the recognition of human rights, the individual accused person has come to be considered as the very subject - rather than the object - of the criminal process. Modern democratic legislatures? in regulating the penal process, are now primarily preoccupied with defining precise limits : to the power of state organs while at the same time establishing rigorous guarantees for individual citizens, thus transforming their Codes of criminal procedure into essential Codes of Liberty. It is today well recognised that individual rights may only be restricted in the 'public interest',within the limits and to the extent to which such restrictions are effectively and indispensably necessary. This 'pro libertatem' trend has given rise to many in-built conflicts within the system, and has aptly lead Professor Caleb Foote to caution that: - "The resolution in criminal procedure of the rights of the individual with the legitimate interests of the state requires the maintenance of a delicate balance" (1). There are not many occasions on which the clash between the interests of the individual and those of the state can take on such violent forms as after the commission of a crime; for when a person is suspected of having committed a criminal offence, his basic right to liberty, 'inter alia', may often be intruded upon in the name of criminal investigation.