Not all false beliefs arise from malicious misinformation. Some legal precedents rest on the status of everyday ‘common knowledge’, since shown to be false, but embedded in our law nonetheless.
George Pell told the royal commission into child sex abuse the Catholic Church was predisposed not to believe children’s complaints. But, when abuse was reported, police and the courts believed them.
The recent decision by the Scottish Parliament to scrap the need for corroboration in criminal trials is designed to solve a longstanding problem: there is a low rate of convictions in rape cases and…