Section 159: Right of accused to interpreter—Section 10 (2) (f) of the Constitution

159. Right of accused to interpreter—Section 10 (2) (f) of the Constitution provides that every person who is charged with a criminal offence shall be entitled to have without payment the assistance of an interpreter if he cannot understand the language used at his trial. Although the principle of a fair trial underlies all systems of law Mauritius should, in such a matter, be guided not so much by principles of the English common law, as exemplified in, for example, R v Lee Kun [1916] 1 KB 337, as by judicial interpretation given to provisions in the Constitutions of other countries which are similar to that of Mauritius. It follows that the appellant cannot claim that there has been, on this issue, a miscarriage of justice which would warrant a quashing of his conviction. Kunnath v R (1990).