DISTINCTION BETWEEN CIVIL & CRIMINAL NO CASE SUBMISSIONS

a. In criminal proceedings, the court is under a duty to decide whether a case has been made out or not at the close of prosecutions case. In civil proceedings the courts is under no such duty. 

b. If a no case submission is wrongly overruled in criminal proceedings any subsequent participation of the accused in the total is a nullity and any fact elicited from the accused cannot be used against him. In civil proceedings, the subsequent participation of the other party will not be vitiated and any admission on his part can be used against him. 

c. In criminal trials, the accused can never or should never be put his election to call or not to call evidence nor can he be forced rest his case on the case of the prosecution. NOTE

Even where he elects not to call evidence or elects to rest his case on the Prosecution’s and his no case submission is rightly over-ruled, it is still his fundamental right to defend himself by calling all relevant evidence at his disposal.