The Burden of Proof in Natural Resources Legislation

This Legislative Study examines the use of legal devices to ease or reverse the burden of proof, traditionally borne by the prosecution, in order to facilitate enforcement of fisheries legislation. This is related to the development of the precautionary principle in environmental law, which in a sense reverses the onus of determining whether action that could affect the environment should go forward, and to the enforcement problems of extended fisheries jurisdiction. The use and limits of presumptions, strict liability and broadly defined offences are analysed in light of national constitutional guarantees and of international law.