They Just Don't Get It

It is depressing that a law firm finds it necessary to defend itself for accepting instructions from Libyan sources.

It is a feature of many of the worst tyrannies (Iran is a good example) that lawyers who defend unpopular clients can be harassed or even arrested for speaking for their client. I understand that defence lawyers are challenged on a regular basis on the lines of : "how can you possibly defend someone like that?"

I have quoted from 'A Man For All Seasons' before:-

Roper: So now you'd give the Devil benefit of law!

More: Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?

Roper: I'd cut down every law in England to do that!

More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you - where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country's planted thick with laws from coast to coast - man's laws, not God's - and if you cut them down - and you're just the man to do it - d'you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake.

Back to the Grindstone

I am going in to sit for a colleague tomorrow,and it will be nice to get back to a bit of everyday business. All of the heavyweight riot stuff is now listed at Camberwell and Highbury so we may be able to return to our regular diet. Let's see.



Later...







It was a nice little drink-drive, with a couple of experts and a back-count, as well as a legal point or two. Can't say any more, but it made a nice change.

A Reasoned View

ObiterJ, who is one of our regular commenters, has posted a first-class summary of the present position regarding the riots that occurred a couple of weeks ago. Order seems to have returned to the streets - in London flooding the place with a reported 16,000 officers seems to have done the trick - and the criminal justice phase has only just started. I share OBJ's curiosity as to the rationale behind, in particular, the draconian attitude to bail, much of it seemingly inconsistent with the provisions of the Bail Act.

Fortunately the system has inbuilt mechanisms to put things right if the heat of the moment led to disposals becoming a little over-enthusiastic, but that will face the higher courts with a very large workload in the coming months.

Phew!

I was alarmed to see a link to the Gadget Show on my TV planner. I had a vision of no-nonsense armed-to-the-teeth coppers being egged on by an ex-military Inspector.



Mercifully, it was this.

More From Hizonner

Further to my recent post, here are more Sentencing Remarks from a judge.

From The Horse's Mouth

Here are the remarks of a senior Judge when sentencing some of the first riot cases - obviously all of them guilty pleas.

Perspective

Thanks to all those who have kept the comments going while I have been away for a few days.



One of the benefits of even a short break was brought home to me today. Having breakfasted handsomely with our hosts my wife and I went to Tarr Steps on Exmoor for a stroll before heading back eastwards.



Standing under the damp and lovely green canopy, accompanied by only the occasional walker, we watched the bubbling flow of the river as it tumbled across its stony bed, flowing under the ancient and heavy stones of the old bridge, put in place by unknown humans possibly 3000 years ago. We agreed there and then that whenever life became stressful, we would cast our minds back to that river, that was flowing countless millenia before we were born, and will still be flowing long after we and our petty concerns are utterly forgotten.



There was just one interruption when a bright yellow Sea King rescue helicopter roared by about fifty feet above the trees. I can readily forgive the sudden disruption of our peace, because that helicopter, like a fire engine or a lifeboat or an Intensive Care unit, has no malign function, being created and used entirely for the benefit of humanity.



So if you see an old JP looking a bit pensive on the bench in the next few weeks, please forgive him. He might be me and his mind will be in the courtroom but his heart will be on Exmoor.

Contempt

It's easy to discern the contempt that some of the illiberal elite have for the people, as recriminations and why-oh-why journalism flourish in the aftermath of the riots. The Mail (inevitably) reports gleefully that some grandstanding council leaders are threatening to evict whole families from council accommodation if one member is convicted in connection with the riots. This is nonsense, and what makes it worse is that those making the threats know that it is nonsense. For one thing it smacks of collective punishment, for another thing it breaches the right to family life in the HRA, and for another thing the council has a statutory duty to house homeless people. Such an eviction would never get past the courts, but the bullies making the threats assume that the public is too stupid to know that and will be impressed at the council's toughness.



Met Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stephen Kavanagh is reported as saying that some of his officers are disappointed that the courts have been dealing with young rioters by making a referral order when the law leaves the courts no alternative and he knows it. DAC Kavanagh is paid a lot of money to be a leader, so why isn't he telling his 'disappointed' troops what the law says, rather than patronising them and the public by suggesting that the courts have somehow failed in their duty?



There will be lots more of this kind of stuff as people try to make themselves out to be the people's tribunes, and most of what will be said will be utterly bogus.

Update

It's been another night when courts have sat to deal with those arrested in connection with the riots. A couple of thoughts occur:



The great bulk of the cases have been handled by District Judges. Some lay justices' noses have been put out of joint by this, but it was probably inevitable, firstly because professionals with no other commitments are easier to deploy than lay benches, and a word from the Chief Magistrate is an easy way to achieve a degree of consistency.



Many of those arrested have been refused bail. Expect a flood of fresh bail applications, as two are allowed in the magistrates' court, and thereafter application may be made to a Circuit Judge. Nevertheless given the weight of numbers those incarcerated may face some time inside.



We had to allow a trial date to be vacated yesterday as the CCTV evidence wasn't ready and the available specialists are all up to their ears processing riot footage.



The papers are already fuming about younger offenders 'walking free' because they do not understand, and do not want to understand, the constraints on dealing with the young in court. All but the most serious offences have to be dealt with in the Youth Court with its maximum power of (I think - it's not my turf) a two year Detention and Training Order. For the youngest, if they have no previous convictions, a Referral Order is about all there is. Frustrating as this may seem, there is a perfectly good principle behind treating the young differently and keeping them out of the adult justice system.



Here's an informative piece.



And here's another.

Guess Who?

Is in The Guardian?