Ratio Decidendi
The test for dishonesty in criminal and civil law is objective: the court must first ascertain the actual state of the defendant's knowledge or belief as to the facts, then determine whether the conduct was dishonest by the standards of ordinary decent people. The subjective element of the Ghosh test (whether the defendant knew their conduct was dishonest) was held to be wrong.
حقائق
Phil Ivey, a professional poker player, used a technique called 'edge sorting' to win £7.7 million at punto banco at Crockfords casino. The casino refused to pay, alleging cheating. Ivey argued he had not been dishonest.
فیصلے کا خلاصہ
The Supreme Court held that Ivey had cheated. Lord Hughes, delivering the unanimous judgment, stated that the Ghosh test for dishonesty was wrong and should be departed from. The correct test is objective: taking the facts as the defendant believed them to be, would ordinary decent people consider the conduct dishonest?
اہم اقتباسات
"These directions are incorrect insofar as they suggest that the ultimate question is whether the defendant appreciated that what he was doing was dishonest by those standards."
— Lord Hughes
بعد کا علاج
Now the authoritative test for dishonesty in both criminal and civil law, replacing R v Ghosh [1982].