25. Staff  26. Class-child ratio  (3) When a person is tried for any criminal offence, the accused person or any person  authorized by him or her in thatbehalf shall, if he or she so requires and subject to payment of  such reasonable fee as may be prescribed by law, be given within a reasonable time after  judgment a copy for the use of the accused person of any record of the proceedings made by or  on behalf of the court. (4) No person shall be held to be guilty of a criminal offence on account of any act or  omission that did not, at the time it took place, constitute such an offence, and no penalty shall be  imposed for any criminal offence that is severer  in degree or description than the maximum  penalty that might have been imposed for that offence at the time when it was committed. (5) No person who shows that he or she has been tried by a competent court for a criminal  offence and either convicted or ac quitted shall again be tried for that offence or for any other  criminal offence of which he or she could have been convicted at the trial for that offence, save  upon the order of a superior court in the course of appeal or review proceedings relating to th e  conviction or acquittal. (6) No person shall be tried for a criminal offence if he or she shows that he or she has  been pardoned for that offence. (7) No person who is tried for a criminal offence shall be compelled to give evidence at the  trial.  (8) No person shall be convicted of a criminal offence unless that offence is defined and  the penalty therefor is prescribed in a written law: Provided that nothing in this subsection shall prevent a court of record from punishing any  person for contempt ofitself notwithstanding that the act or omission constituting the contempt is  not defined in a written law and the penalty therefor is not so prescribed. (9) Any court or other adjudicating authority prescribed by law for the determination of the  existenceor extent of any civil right or obligation shall be established or recognized by law and  shall be independent and impartial; and where proceedings for such a determination are instituted  by any person before such a court or other adjudicating authority, t he case shall be given a fair  hearing within a reasonable time. (10) Except with the agreement of all the parties thereto, all proceedings of every court  and proceedings for the determination of the existence or extent of any civil right or obligation  before any other adjudicating authority, including the announcement of the decision of the court or  other authority, shall be held in public. (11) Nothing in subsection (10) shall prevent the court or other adjudicating authority from  excluding from the proc eedings persons other than the parties thereto and their legal  representatives to such extent as the court or other authority -  (12) Nothing contained in or done under the authority of any law shall be held to be  inconsistent with or in contravention of -  ( a )  may consider necessary or expedient in circumstances where publicity would prejudice  the interests of justice or in interloc utory proceedings; or ( b )  may be empowered by law to do so in the interests of defence, public safety, public  order, public morality, the welfare of persons under the age of 18 years or the protection  of the private lives of persons concerned in the proce edings.  ( a )  subsection (2)( a ) of this section to the extent that the law in question imposes upon any  person charged with a cri minal offence the burden of proving particular facts; ( b )  subsection (2)( d ) or (2)( e ) of this section to the extent that the law in question prohibits  legal representation before a subordinate court in proceedings for an offence under  customary law (beingproceedings against any person who, under that law, is subject to  that law);  Copyright Government of Botswana