Law Weblog

Solicitor-advocates will wear wigs from January

The Lord Chief Justice will issue a practice direction this week allowing solicitor advocates to wear wigs in court from January 2008.It has long been an issue that denying them this forensic ‘right’ made them appear second-class lawyers.

Use of force when tackling criminals – proposals from Jack Straw

The Ministry of Justice has published measures on the use of force when tackling criminals. The statement follows up the political statement by Jack Straw at the Labour Party conference in September 2007.

The proposal is to amend the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill. They are intended to give the public confidence that the law is on their side if they act reasonably in using force, including the fact that:
– they acted instinctively;
– they feared for their safety or that of others, and acted based on their perception of the threat faced and the scale of that threat;
– the level of force used was not excessive or disproportionate in the circumstances as they viewed them.

The amendments attempt to clarify the existing common law defences and the statutory provisions under the Criminal Law Act 1967. The Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill was published in June 2007.

For more information go to http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/criminal-justice-bill.htm

Amendments will be debated in Parliament at Report Stage of the Bill on 9 January 2007. It is widely expected that the proposals will be watered down and produce little change to the existing law.

Wigs are to stay for barristers

The decision to do away with wigs is put on hold. A survey by the Bar Council, which represents 15,000 barristers found two thirds of them support the wearing of wigs in civil and family cases. They are worn in major criminal cases, so it looks like they might have been saved again.
Bar Council report 

Brevity is a new watchword

The post-BCCI trial working party has presented an 83 page report to the Commercial Judges and Commercial Court Users’ Committee.

The report followed the 23-month BCCI trial, which opened with an 80-day speech by the barrister Gordon Pollock QC (speaking for 4 hours each day he talked as much as an A-Level law lecturer over the two years of the course).

The report proposes that from now on opening arguments should not exceed 50 pages and two days.
But the worst news for long-winded barristers is that even the longest cases will be allocated just 13 weeks.

Hunting Act rides again

29 November 2007
The House of Lords Judicial Committee dismissed the case brought by the Countryside Alliance which challenged to the lawfulness of the Hunting Act.

The Countryside Alliance that brought the action claimed the Act violated the fundamental human rights of thousands of people whose livelihood and way of life. Between 6,000 and 8,000 were expected eventually to lose their jobs, and many would also lose the homes that went with the jobs. Others would lose businesses and the commercial “goodwill” attached to them.

In the ruling, Lord Bingham said the law had been drawn up and passed in line with the constitution and should not be undone by an interest group. “The democratic process is liable to be subverted if, on a question of moral and political judgment, opponents of the act achieve through the courts what they could not achieve in Parliament.”

In the leading opinion given by the senior Law Lord, Lord Bingham said, that the Hunting Act 2004 must “be taken to reflect the conscience of a majority of the nation. He also said, “ … the present case seems to me pre-eminently one in which respect should be shown to what the House of Commons decided.”
The decision was a unanimous ruling by five Law Lords.

It is the second time an appeal against the Act has been rejected. (The previous attempt failed to satisfy the Lords that the ban was illegal because the Act had been passed using the Parliament Act without the consent of the House of Lords).

The Times article here

The end of Tribunal Chairmen

Their title is being changed.

From tomorrow, employment tribunal chairmen become known as Employment Judges.

This change, which has received virtually no publicity, is contained in para. 36 of Schedule 8 to the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007.

Barristers, what people think of them

A new poll for the Bar Standards Board has found that barristers are not as unpopular as they think they are. Solicitors, for instance, think they provide good or excellent advice – but they’re not much good at small talk.

Times article, here

Standard powers for Police Community Support Officers

The Home Office has announced new powers that are to be given to Police Community Support Officers under the Police Reform Act 2002 (Standard Powers and Duties of Community Support Officers) Order 2007.

There are to be more consistent rules, including:

* a new minimum age of 18 years
* consistent powers in all forces across the country
* common equipment and uniforms.

A set of 20 standard powers for PCSOs will take effect in all forces on 1 December. These powers will include the right to:

* confiscate alcohol in public places
* issue fixed penalty notices for anti-social behaviour
* seize drugs

In addition, PCSOs will also be able to draw on further powers at the discretion of their chief constable.

These can include the right to:

* detain people suspected of offences
* issue fixed penalty notices for disorder, including misuse of fireworks and graffiti
* search those suspected of carrying dangerous items

10,000 prisoners have been freed

More than 10,000 prisoners have been freed under an early-release scheme since June. 300 have been put back because they breached the terms of their release of for re-offending.

Later this week the government will announce the recommendations of the Carter Report into the prison system. He is expected to recommend:
• prisoners sentenced to less than six months only serve their time if there is room for them in jail;
• a two-tier system, with “federal prisons” for high-risk offenders and “community prisons” for the rest;
• closure of 15 women’s jails, to be replaced by smaller secure units.

Last week the prison population stood at 81,454, down slightly from the record of 81,547 set the previous week. There were 197 convicts being held in police cells because jails were full.

Next week, the Ministry of Justice will disclose the number of foreign nationals in English and Welsh prisons and the average length of prison sentences handed out last year.

Telegraph article, here

Appeal Court orders judge to stand down

A High Court judge, Mr Justice Singer was ordered to step down from a divorce case for saying a Saudi sheikh might “depart on his flying carpet”; his evidence was “gelatinous … like Turkish Delight”, and the sheikh should be available for hearings at this “relatively fast-free time of the year”, and that he should appear so that “every grain of sand is sifted”.

BBC story here.