QUEUING FOR JUSTICE

"It is not merely of some importance but is of fundamental importance that justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done”. This dictum was laid down by Lord Hewart, the then Lord Chief Justice of England in the case of Rex v. Sussex Justices, [1924] 1 KB 256.  It is remarkable that this landmark ruling arose out of a minor collision case where the fine was just £10 with costs. Yet the King’s Bench issued a rule nisi and ultimately quashed the conviction merely because the deputy clerk was also present at the deliberations in the chamber of the Sussex justices. A century on from that case can it now be said with any conviction that the above dictum is still applied where justice is dispensed?  I would answer in the negative.  It could be answered that the essence of the word justice in the above context  is applicable only in the courts.  Of course forms of justice and authority are applied in many aspects of society. It is not for nothing that the supervisory body for the control of courts is His Majesty`s Courts and Tribunals Service.  The list of tribunals and therefore the scope of control of HMCTS is so extensive that I challenge any reader to be acquainted with all of them listed here.  Can it be said without fear or favour that all the proceedings in those tribunals which are this country`s form of  the management of conflict and control  in a myriad of situations offer a form of justice which is seen to be done?  The Justice and Security Act (2013)   extended secret procedures into the main civil courts. Closed hearings are not unprecedented. Cases in the family division of the high court relating to child custody and divorce issues are regularly held in camera to protect privacy. However it is in the field of military intelligence that the use of closed court sessions can be most justified.  But secrecy has been endemic in British government thinking for generations; perhaps more than in any other western nation. When the open justice door has been closed once it enables its closing on future occasions when arguably the primary reason has been diluted. Currently it is the Single Justice Procedure introduced in magistrates courts in 2015 which has now reached the eyes and ears of the mass media. 

However secrecy and control have been utilised in another form by HMCTS with regard to the magistracy in particular. In London where I sat, for decades magistrates were involved in the control of their courts through a committee of  magistrates, at least one of whom had to be a district judge and mayoral and other local authority nominees. Not only did it own its courthouses and associated property but it also acted as a paying authority in its own right.  The magisterial member(s) was chosen by the whole bench and was usually the bench chairman him/herself chosen by his/her colleagues. In 2018 that position was reduced almost to an honorary position appealing to those who saw opportunity to advance their goal of  being appointed MBE or OBE at some future time.  They have been supplanted since 2018 by so called leadership magistrates; toadies to surreptitiously spy on their colleagues, leak propaganda to them, nudge them in various HMCTS directions...............?????   We just don`t know because the MOJ refuses to disclose their current identities or the benches on which they sit apart  from Duncan Webster JP,  OBE.   My post of 14/06/2018 was perhaps the first time this topic was aired publicly.  The identities of the original cohort I posted on 17/03/2020.  These names were apparently subsequently removed from publication. This is what Mr Google has to say.  The Parliamentary Justice Committee had its doubts on this innovation. 

There is no doubt that there are occasions when secrecy is paramount for a nation`s security.  Rampant Edward Snowdons are a danger to us all.  But within a civil population the erosion of open justice is a threat which must be taken more seriously by the supposed "great and the good"  although it could be argued that it is they who are driving forward this diminishing of our civil rights.  The most senior judiciary who are more concerned with their pensions perhaps than the finer points of citizens` rights under the law seem to break their silence only when their financial futures are securely within their bank accounts.  The axiom, If knowledge is power  then  secret knowledge is secret power.”  is probably drilled into the head of every Justice Minister and worker in Petty France.  Control! control! control!  A glance at any broadsheet headline or ten minutes on Twitter is an indication of where so many societies are heading.  For once we should be last in that long queue of aspirants.